A/N

This is the first chapter that is not even a little bit canon, so let me know what you think, I'd really appreciate it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Being back in Diagon Alley felt like Elowen was able to breathe again. She woke up feeling fully rested for the first time in weeks, grinned when she saw a tray of breakfast on the table, and sighed happily as she dressed in her own clothes.

"You're in a good mood," Harry remarked. He was already dressed, a book and parchment in the desk in front of him.

"Just happy to be free of the Dursleys" Elowen said. "No more having to wake up at the crack of dawn to make breakfast, no more having to listen Vernon gripe and Petunia screech at us," she grabbed a pastry and hopped up to sit on the desk next to Harry, "no more secondhand clothing that doesn't fit right."

"You make some excellent points," he grinned back at her. "We're free."

"That we are, brother mine." Elowen leaned back against the wall and looked down at what Harry was doing. "Summer Transfiguration essay?"

"Yep," Harry sighed. "I ordered breakfast for Tom to send up for us, and then I figured I should get started on my summer homework."

"You could have woken me up," Elowen told him.

"And interrupt the first solid sleep you've gotten in two weeks?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "I know that it was, because it was mine too."

"Alright," Elowen conceded, "you've got a point." She finished her pastry and stood. "What do you say to taking that essay out into the sunlight?"

"I think I'll leave the essay here, thanks," Harry drawled.

~~~

The first stop they made was the post office, where Elowen scrawled out a very short message to each of their friends, asking if they'd like to meet in the Alley in the next week and that the twins would explain everything then.

Hedwig had been put out when El had mentioned going to the post office, but neither twin wanted to risk anything happening to Hedwig because of Dobby's interference.

They hadn't received their Hogwarts letters yet, so instead of school supplies, the twins sequestered themselves in a corner of Flourish and Blotts, searching for answers about the way Elowen's eyes had gone gold.

They found exactly one mention of golden eyes, in a book titled Into The Light: How the Hogwarts Founders Brought Albion Out of The Dark Age of Magic hidden away in a dim dusty corner in the very back of the store.

It has been said that Merlin was a close friend of the Founders and even attended their school so as to learn the magics that they taught. And yet we know very little about Merlin from before the Founders time, and even less about the magic he used — the rumors say he used no wand and his eyes flashed a brilliant gold every time he cast a spell.

From there the twins pulled other books on the Dark Age of Magic — they could only find one other that mentioned it at all, Merlin's biography. The clerk gave them a once over as they approached the counter with the two books.

"Heavy reading for a coupla firsties, innit?"

"We're second years actually," Elowen replied. The clerk raised an eyebrow.

"It's for our summer History essay," Harry lied, and the clerk sighed as he finally checked them out.

"Don't say I didn't warn ya!" he called as the twins left.

When they returned to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch, they found four letters waiting for them — all marked 'returned to sender'.

A fifth letter bore the Gringotts letterhead. Grateful for a distraction from the ongoing Dobby issue, Harry tore it open.

"What's it say?" Elowen asked morosely. "Do they want us to stay away from Hogwarts as well?"

"Ha ha," Harry deadpanned. "No." He skimmed the letter. "They've finally set a date for the will reading, apparently they've just located all of the people listed and sent out the notices. It's in two days, on Monday."

"Oh," Elowen said. Several minutes passed quietly as the twins picked at their chicken salads before she continued, "Professor Snape said that our guardianship would have been listed in the will. Do you suppose we should bring a lawyer or something?"

"Maybe?" Harry shrugged. "For all we know, the Potter Family already has one and just no one told us."

Elowen hummed noncommittally and took a long drink from her apple cider. She thought for a long moment before sighing.

"I suppose we could just wait to hear what the will actually says," she said, leaning back in her chair.

"We'd know exactly what we'd need a lawyer for then," Harry replied, picking up on her train of thought immediately. He nodded decisively and picked up his fork. "Alright then. We'll wait."

~~~

The weekend passed unremarkably. Harry finished his Transfiguration essay, Elowen wrote a Charms essay several feet long on the levitation charm and its applied uses (Harry, when he read over it for errors, joked that she was taking after Hermione).

Their summer History essay was assigned by McGonagall rather than Binns — according to Percy Weasley, Binns' summer assignments hadn't changed in over seventy years, so she used her authority as deputy Headmistress to assign a research essay or project to each year on the topics they were actually meant to be covering (it was well known that Professor Binns had a heavy tendency to only talk about goblins, not to mention he fell asleep regularly).

For incoming second years, this essay was on the way the magical community governed itself before the formation of the International Confederation of Wizards — which to the twins' understanding was the magical equivalent to the UN.

The ICW was comprised of four bodies: the Wizards' Assembly, consisting of an elected representative from every wizarding nation, of which there were 194 (Liechtenstein protested the ICW because the first Mugwump wanted to give rights to trolls); the Magical Security Council — one member elected for life for each of the 20 countries the Security Council consisted of(Albion, America, Canada, France, Mexico, Brazil, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, China, South Korea, Japan, India, Egypt, Scandinavia, South Africa and Uganda); a Council of Magical Brethren that had representatives from each recognized magical race, introduced the internationally enforced laws and regulations concerning magical creatures (the Supreme Mugwump for wizards, the King of the Goblins, a werewolf, a centaur, an Elf, etc.); and an International Court that consisted of ten judges each from a different nation that rotated on a five year cycle — if a judge's term was up on an election year, that country could not put forth a candidate until the next election year— the same Court that had sentenced Grindelwald.

On a more localized level, there was the Ministry of Magic. There were two Ministries in Albion, one British and one Irish. Each had a Minister (Cornelius Fudge for the UK and Orla O'Rourke for Ireland) and various Department Heads.

The Ministers and Department Heads made up the second level of the Wizengamot, the overarching authority of Albion as a whole.

The Wizengamot had 6 levels, each increasing in importance and voting power. The first was the general populace, those who had no established wizarding family and no Ministry job — they were granted one vote each.

The second level was for the ministry employees — the Heads of Departments, the Ministers, the interns and assistants who were lucky enough to be invited to take notes for their bosses. They generally had two votes each, though the Ministers had three.

The third level — four votes per seat — was for the heads of magical families that were established, but not titled. Most were Houses started by families a few generations back or muggleborns and halfbloods creating a family name for Masteries and such, but some were titled Houses that had lost their titles. The House of Weasley was one of these, a formerly Noble House with a 400 year history and considerable influence, but a lost title due to a broken bethrothal contract that resulted in a feud some 200 years back.

The fourth level of the Wizengamot was the Noble Houses — families that had small fortunes, some influence, and often some great deed in their family line — and Ancient Houses — houses with no nobility but a long, long history. Neither one on its own was enough to be bumped up to the upper echelons of magical peerage. They received five votes per seat held. Elowen's book on magical society said that a House had to be Noble for 300 years before it could be considered for Ancient & Noble status. Interestingly enough, though neither twin felt it necessary to include in their essays, several of the so-called Sacred 28 Ancient and Noble families had lost their Noble status and been bumped back down to just Ancient in the last fifty years. It seemed several of these families (Crabbe, Goyle, Yaxley, Lee, Snyde, Mulciber, Travers, Wilkes, and MacNair, just to name a few) swore vassalage to a lower House, and subsequently dropped in rank and votes.

The final two levels were what was collectively known as the Albion Court. The Ancient and Noble Houses were old families (like Malfoy, Parkinson, Scamander, Lovegood) that had been in Albion since the inception of the Wizengamot. They were rich and magically powerful, with Family Magics, libraries, and secrets that had been cultivated over nearly a millennia. They had six votes per seat held, and since they'd had time to absorb the seats of family lines that had married in and subsequently dissolved, many of these families had five or more seats to vote with.

The Most Ancient and Noble Houses were the oldest and wealthiest families (the Founders, the Potters, Blacks, Greengrasses, Longbottoms, etc), that had been in Albion since before the Wizengamot had even been a thought. Truthfully, they weren't all that different from the Ancient and Noble Houses, just older and more wealthy, with seven votes per seat. It was said that bar the Founders, the Most Ancient and Noble Houses had originally been part of King Arthur's Court — his closest knights and advisors.

Harry rubbed at his eyes when he finished writing his essay, which was more a list of facts than it was an essay, but it would have to do. His brain was already threatening to melt with all the facts about the Wizengamot he had to memorize as the Heir to a Most Ancient and Noble House. It was mind boggling to him that he was part of a family line that dated back to Camelot — that he and El had to bear such a legacy on their shoulders.

He glanced over at Elowen, whose parchment was nearly a foot longer than his own, and grinned. "Merlin, you really are turning into Hermione."

"Your own essay could stand to be a bit longer," Elowen retorted. She raised an eyebrow at his parchment, barely a foot long. "We are the futures Heads of Most Ancient and Noble Houses. We do have to know all of this by the time we take up our lordships."

"We have a year until we can take up our lordships," Harry pointed out, "and even then we can set proxies until we leave Hogwarts. We have time, El."

El sighed and finished off her sentence, then set her quill down. "You're right. I've probably crammed in more than needed anyway." She rolled up her parchment and set it aside to put in her trunk later. "What's next?"

~~~

Monday morning saw the twins hurrying down the Alley towards Gringotts, dressed in fine robes bearing the Potter crest, Heir rings on their hands. They'd gone back and forth about whether to dress like the Pureblood Heirs they were, and had eventually decided that it would probably be best.

"Who do you think will be there?" Elowen asked as they climbed the marble steps.

"I have no clue," Harry answered. "We don't know nearly enough about our parents to even begin to guess who they'd leave things to."

The bank was fairly empty, and Elowen scanned the lobby as they walked up to a teller. No one looked familiar, though she thought maybe she caught the familiar copper-red of Weasley hair on a man disappearing around a distant hallway corner.

"We have an appointment," Harry told the teller. "I'm Heir Potter and this is my twin, Heiress Black, and we're here for our parents' will to be read."

The teller sneered down at them (Elowen was beginning to suspect that goblins just generally held disdain for wixen). "Second hall from the doors, all the way down. Your account manager will collect you from the waiting room."

"Right, thank you," Harry said, and lead Elowen down the hall. Once out of earshot from the goblin, he leaned into her side. "Did you know we had an account manager?"

"Yes, Harry," El said exasperatedly. "It's Griphook, he sent us the Cloak, remember?"

"Oh," Harry sounded surprised. "Yeah, I'd forgot."

"Potter One, Potter Two." They looked up to see Severus Snape sneering at them. They'd reached a large waiting area full of padded benches bracketing wide golden double doors. McGonagall sat on a bench near Snape, looking equally surprised to see them.

"What are you doing here?" Harry blurted out.

"I could ask you the same thing," Snape drawled. "As I was under the impression that you were to spend your entire summer with your... relatives."

"Plans change," El said shortly. "Sorry, what are you doing here? At our parents' Will reading?"

"I should think it would be obvious," Snape snapped. "I'm mentioned in the will. As is everyone else gathered in this room today."

"Yeah, but our parents didn't like you and you hated our dad," Harry snapped back. "Everyone knows that."

Snape's face began to turn a concerning shade of red.

"Harry? El?"

The twins turned around to see Neville Longbottom staring at them with wide eyes.

"Neville!" Elowen grinned and ran over to envelope him in a hug. "I thought you said you'd be on holiday!"

"We were," Neville frowned. "We just returned from Greece. Why didn't you reply to any of my letters?"

"House-elf troubles," Harry replied. "Draco's dad's got a crazy one."

"Dobby's probably not crazy," Elowen objected, then frowned. "I think. Maybe eccentric? High-strung, definitely." She smiled at Neville. "We can fill you in after all this —" she waved a hand at the doors — "maybe we can treat you and Lady Longbottom to lunch? If you're not busy after."

Neville looked back at his gran, who nodded. "That'd be great."

Harry looked around the waiting room that had filled a bit more in the last few minutes. A young blonde girl and her dad, a red-haired woman who reminded Harry of Susan Bones, and a tired, shabby looking man with scars across his face who was staring right at the twins with a strange wistfulness. Harry turned to ask Neville if he knew anyone else, but before he could, the doors swung open and Griphook stepped into the room.

"Ah, Heir Potter, Heiress Black," he greeted and looked around. "Excellent, everyone's here. Well, come on."

He waved everyone inside. Several chairs were set up around a desk with a large scroll sitting next to a glass orb in a runic circle. Griphook picked up a silver knife and cut a finger, pressing the cut to the runic circle. The circle lit up, the orb glowed a gentle blue, and he started speaking.

"We are gathered here on this day the 3rd of August 1992 for the reading of the Last Will and Testament of Lord James Fleamont Potter and his wife, Lady Lily Rose Evans Potter, as dictated to the Albion Court and Lady Magic."

Elowen shared a surprised look with Harry. They hadn't known their parents' full names.

"Present today is Madame Regent Amelia Bones, Chief Auror present on behalf of the Wizengamot and the British Ministry; Lady Regent Augusta Longbottom and her grandson Heir Neville Longbottom, here in absentia Lord Frank Longbottom and his wife Lady Alice Fortescue Longbottom; Professors Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape; Remus Lupin; Heir Henry James Potter; and Elowen Euphemia Potter, Heiress Black."

Elowen looked around putting the names to the faces she didn't know. Amelia Bones looked like Susan, and the tired man had to be Remus Lupin, who had jolted at Elowen's title and was once again staring.

"The Will is as follows:

On this the 24th of August 1981, I, James Fleamont Potter, Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter, being of sound mind and spirit, under my own will, and I, Lily Rose Evans Potter, Lady of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter, being of sound mind and spirit, under my own will,

Do declare this to be our Last Will and Testament, before the Triple Goddess and the Albion Court, so mote it be.

Should we die while under the Fidelius Charm that is protecting us at this moment, let it be known that Peter Pettigrew is our Secret Keeper, bound by Marlene McKinnon on the 1st of August 1981.

Let the record show that Marlene McKinnon was killed on the 23rd of October, 1981."

"Stop," an Irish lilt said firmly. Griphook tapped the orb and it started to flicker slowly. Elowen looked over to see Amelia Bones looking somehow both stern and shocked. A cursory glance around showed everyone in the room staring at Griphook with wide eyes. Madame Bones looked back at Remus Lupin, who was so pale El was almost worried. "Did you know this?"

"No," he said hoarsely. He scrubbed a hand roughly over his face. "No, they said — they lied to me, they told me it was Sirius, they, they..." he slumped, all the energy seeming to leave him. "They didn't trust me with this."

"Sorry," Harry cut in, "but, what exactly is the issue here?"

Six pairs of disbelieving eyes turned on the twins (well, five anyway — Snape had just rolled his eyes and scoffed).

"You don't know," Neville realized.

"Don't know what?" Elowen asked.

"Peter Pettigrew is one of the murders your godfather Sirius Black in Azkaban for," Amelia Bones said bluntly. "Along with the murder of twelve muggles and your parents, a crime which Black was convicted of because of the widespread belief that he was your parents' Secret Keeper."

"Ok," Elowen said slowly. "Ok, but why are you all acting so surprised? Surely that's something that would have come out during his trial, him not being the Secret Keeper?"

Amelia Bones grimaced. "It should have. Trust me, I'll be looking into that."

"If I might continue," Griphook said a bit irritably.

"Of course, master goblin," Bones said. "My apologies."

"Acknowledged," Griphook sneered. He tapped the orb once more, and once the blue glow was steady again, picked up the scroll. "Continuing on:

"The guardianship of our son, Henry James, and our daughter, Elowen Euphemia, is to be left as follows:

First and foremost to Heir Sirius Orion Black, as he is their magically bound godfather. I know you're terrified and grieving, Pads, but you love them like your own, and I know you'll raise them to know both who they are and that they are beyond loved."

Amelia Bones cursed loudly, but stayed otherwise silent.

"Second to Alice Fortescue Longbottom, as their magically bound godmother, and her husband Lord Frank Longbottom. I'm sorry I can't be there to see Neville and the twins grow up together like we always planned, Al, but I know you'll be the best mum for Neville, and love the twins like they're your own blood."

Elowen had Harry's hand gripped tight in hers, but at Neville's sniff, she looked over, gave him a sad smile, and grabbed his hand too.

"If both godparents are unavailable, our children should be left in the care of the following people in order:

Remus John Lupin (Remus Lupin made a wounded sound)

Marlene McKinnon ("deceased," Griphook added)

Dorcas Meadowes (deceased)

Mary MacDonald (presumed deceased)

Peter Pettigrew — unless he has given up the Secret of our location, in which case any and all things bequeathed to him in this Will is void (deceased)

Augusta Longbottom

Pandora Lovegood (deceased)

Andromeda Tonks

Amelia Bones (the woman herself blinked, looking incredibly sad for a moment)

Minerva McGonagall

Alastor Moody

If all of the listed people are unavailable or unwilling, we request that our children be placed in any accepting Light or neutral leaning magical family, as approved by the Department of Magical Child Welfare. It is our wish that our children be raised in the magical world, knowing their heritage and history, with the right ideals and morals instilled in them.

Under absolutely NO CIRCUMSTANCES WHATSOEVER are our children to be left to my sister Petunia Evans Dursley. Petunia abhors magic and hates me, and I refuse to let our children be raised in that kind of environment."

"I knew it!" Harry burst out. Griphook paused the recording again. "I knew our parents wouldn't have wanted us there!"

"I never disagreed with you," Elowen sighed. She leaned forward to look over at Madame Bones. "There's a Department of Child Welfare?"

"Yes," Madame Bones frowned. "You should have received several visits over the years from a social worker."

"Nope," El shook her head. "Does Dumbledore work for that department too? Or like, volunteer?"

"No, he does not," Bones said. "He's got rather enough on his plate, I should think."

"So then why was he the one to leave us at the Dursley's house?" Harry asked. He shot a look at McGonagall. "And why was he telling us where we had to stay for the summer?"

"Albus Dumbledore had no right to be leaving you with Muggles," Neville's gran cut in. "The House of Longbottom would have taken you in a heartbeat. We have long been allied with the Potters."

"Dumbledore told us he's our magical guardian," Elowen said. "Professor McGonagall was there, she can tell you."

"I don't know what Albus did," McGonagall said stiffly. "But somehow he got himself declared their magical guardian, before he left them with their aunt."

"That's practically line theft!" Remus said indignantly. He stood, kicking his chair away as he paced angrily behind the group. "Interfering in the raising of not one but two Heirs of Ancient and Noble Houses? Blatantly ignoring the dying wishes of their parents? What the hell was he thinking?" He stopped in front of the twins and rested a hand on each of their shoulders. "If I'd known that that's where he left the two of you I would never have stayed away so long. He promised me that he'd sent you two to be raised by someone Lily and James had wanted. I thought you were safe." Remus took a deep breath. "If you'd like to, you can come live with me."

He watched as the twins seemed to have a whole conversation without saying a word (Merlin they looked so much like their parents it almost hurt to look at them) before they looked back at him with matching bright green eyes.

"We're not living with Petunia and Vernon anymore, we left for good the night of our birthday," Elowen announced. Remus blinked. "We had planned to just stay at the Leaky Cauldron until September."

"But our parents wanted us to go to you if our godparents were unable," Harry continued, "and we'd love to come live with you."

"Madame Bones," Snape hissed. Remus sighed as the man glared at him. "Surely you can't intend to let this man have custody of the Twins-Who-Lived!"

"He's the rightful guardian," Madame Bones replied, frowning, "why shouldn't I?"

"You don't get a say," Harry snapped. "You're not our relative, you're not a godparent, you're not even our Head of House at Hogwarts. You were just kind of nice to us when you brought us to Diagon Alley the first time, and then you spent all of last year hating us because of our dad!"

"Mr. Potter!" McGonagall exclaimed. "Professor Snape is your teacher, he only wants the best for you!"

"He's not our professor right now, actually," Elowen chimed in. Remus was taken aback at the ice cold look in her eyes. "And neither are you. We're not in school. If he wants to act like he has any input on our guardianship, then he can deal with the consequences."

"You impertinent little —!"

"Mr. Snape!" Regent Longbottom cut him off. "You are speaking to the Heiress of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black! You will show respect!" She glared at both teachers. "If this is how you comport yourselves during the school year, rest assured I will be bringing it to the attention of the Board."

Snape sat back, looking furious.

"Please continue, master Griphook," Elowen said.

Griphook sighed, grumbled something in the guttural language the goblins spoke, and tapped the orb to begin recording once more.

"Our belongings and fortune are to be distributed thusly:

To Professor Minerva McGonagall, I, James Potter, leave copies of my journals containing notes on various transfiguration projects and the Animagus transformation, in the hope that they will help her encourage a new generation of transfiguration geniuses the same way she always inspired me. Don't be too mad at us when you read them, Minnie!"

Harry glanced at McGonagall, surprised she'd been left anything, and saw her discreetly swipe at her eyes. He wondered why she'd never mentioned knowing their parents.

"To Severus Snape,"

Harry restrained himself from glaring at the Potions Professor.

"I leave the letters he sent me in our childhood. I hope he remembers why we had been friends and finds it within himself to look out for our children at Hogwarts, without judging them for their father."

No one said a word. Snape looked a bit constipated.

"To Alice Longbottom, I leave copies of all of our pictures together, my half of the charmed journals we wrote notes together in, and a cutting of any plant she wants out of the Potter garden. She's always had the better green thumb between us!

To Remus Lupin, I leave the cottage at Henllwyn cove on the coast of Bardsey Island, and a monthly stipend of 2000 galleons. Don't even try to say you don't deserve it, Moons, you're family and you deserve to have good things in life. Not to mention I'm sure our little hellions will be at their Uncle Moony's house every chance they get!"

Remus leaned closer to the twins. "I was planning on taking you two back to the ancestral Potter home, but we will definitely visit the cottage. James, Sirius, and I loved spending time in the summer there."

"Not Peter?" Elowen asked curiously. Remus' face made an odd pinched expression.

"No, Peter had... other things to fill his summers with."

Griphook cleared his throat pointedly. Remus patted Harry and Elowen's shoulders and sat back.

"To Sirius Black, my brother in everything but blood, I leave our Marauders journals, the box in my vault labeled Sirius Black. I also leave Sirius proxy of the Potter Seats until my son and Heir, Henry James Potter, can claim his Lordship. I also leave the stewardship of all Potter accounts and estates not already bequeathed in this Will, until my children reach their majority. As my children's magically bound godfather, he is incapable of causing them harm or betraying them in any way, and I know that Sirius will lead the Potter family in the way I would want it to be, and teach the children their history."

Amelia Bones sighed harshly. "Magically bound godfather?!" She rubbed her temples. "I'm going to have so much work."

"I don't understand," Remus frowned. Augusta Longbottom cleared her throat.

"Magically bound godparents are an old tradition amongst the Pureblood families, especially those in the Albion Court," she said. "A holdover from the days when it was common for the Heirs of prominent families to become wards of other families and there was a need for a way to ensure the Heir's safety."

"If it had been known that Sirius Black was a bonded godfather, it would have immediately been clear he wasn't responsible for the deaths of the Potters," Amelia added. She scowled. "It is exactly the sort of thing that would have been in a trial, which means either he didn't get one or it was covered up. Either way, I will be investigating this."

Harry thought Snape looked ready to murder someone and was suddenly very grateful that there was still a month until school started.

~~~

The will reading wrapped up uneventfully. Everything else was left to Harry and Elowen, on account of several of their parents' loved ones being dead. Amelia Bones promised to send for Remus Lupin when she had the paperwork for him to claim their guardianship, and she had left in a hurry.

Snape had taken the box of letters he'd been left and swept out of the bank without a word to anyone else. McGonagall hadnt seemed to know what to say to the twins, and after a long moment, had simply wished them a good summer, and followed Snape out of Gringotts.

Lunch with Neville and his Gran had been postponed. Neville hugged both twins as they separated outside Gringotts.

"Listen, I'll send a letter to everyone else," he told them. He was clutching tight to the box of keepsakes. "I'll explain everything. Figure out a date for all of us to meet here, maybe?"

"That'd be great, Neville," Harry smiled. He glanced back at where Remus was being presented with a stack of papers. "We'll have Remus send your Gran a letter once we've settled in at the Potter house, and you can come visit us and choose a plant to take for your mum, ok?"

Neville smiled with watering eyes. "Alright."

"If you need anything, don't hesitate to send an owl," Regent Longbottom told the twins. She settled a hand on Neville's shoulder and steered him down the Alley.

Remus came over, smiling cautiously. "Well, everything's in order now. Shall we pick up your things and go home?"

Home. Harry grinned as Elowen led the way down the street. The word certainly felt nice to finally be able to say.