Welcome back to our little adventure. I own none of the characters except my Ocs
Comment Responses:
Anonymous Guest 1: Thank you for saying that, and for being the first comment here :D
Anonymous Guest 2: Not out of the question exactly, I haven't planned so far ahead yet. Remember there are still certain deities involved here and Ellie and Az have a very good reason to want to see their brothers Yugo and Adamai some time in the future.
Anonymous Guest 3: I generally don't write romance and haven't even considered any of that. Ellie is also only 11, moving on 12, years old at this point in the story, as well as being an Eliatrope, which is basically a Space Elf. As such her development is slower physically than normal though not to the extreme showcased by her older brother Yugo.
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Ellie felt a strange mixture of anticipation and anxiety as she got off the Muggle train, Agripina next to her as the "Adult monitoring the child", while Az hid under her hat in the form of some small sparrow.
It had been two weeks since she arrived here, meeting at long last her twin and this time had been, to put it bluntly, the best time of her life. Not even her time at Hogwarts could compare, only the feeling she had gotten, looking into the Mirror of Erised, could. She… she had never felt right until that point, until she had reunited with Az, restored the way they should have lived, together. Az had explained this come due to them being Doofus twins, their souls were intrinsically linked to one another and thus being apart was unnatural.
This was compounded by Ellie's unhappy upbringing and their Envision ability, an ability unique to the two of them. Ellie didn't know how to call it up, but according to Az they could, once she knew how to, induce a sort of vision of the present, past and, with enough effort and mastery, even short distances, a few weeks at most, into the future.
This was how Az had learned so much about their natures, and it was still kind of bizarre when she went to sleep and went right to lessons with Az in their shared dreams. But… it also felt right. Like this was something she should've been living with her whole life. But alas, this had been robbed from her, much like a proper childhood.
She understood that Professor Dumbledore had tried to do what he thought was best for them, but he had done so under false assumptions. And they had suffered for it. For this reason, they were going to the same Diagon Alley equivalent they had gone to in order for them to reach the Dragon Preserve. For security reasons they hadn't been able to use the Floo from the Preserve to it, so they had to make a detour and took a train instead.
And when she had asked how they used it to get there, it had been explained that the Floo Network connection was disabled for the Preserve unless a technician connected it but that needed authorization on their part and speaking with said technician, several of whom were typically in Floo hubs like the one they had gone to with Ellie to bring her to the Preserve.
It was rather complicated, but it did ensure unauthorized intruders couldn't just grab an egg, if they survived that, and floo out. It was just inconvenient in general, though it was a good excuse for her to use her Nimbus 2000 to get out, though they had to walk the rest of the way to the train station.
Anyway, the walk from the train station to the magical district was relatively short, evidently there were Platform 9¾ style barrier gates around the city that were secured against Muggle entry, but could transport one directly to the entrance area. This was rather nifty in Ellie's opinion, made things way easier than searching all over London for the Leaky Cauldron. Parents of Muggle-born could still enter as there was a more mundane entrance similar to the Leaky Cauldron, but most people didn't use that.
Ellie had also learned that Albania did have its own magic school, most of Europe did, they weren't as prestigious as the big names like Hogwarts, Ilvermony or Mahoutokoro though. "Are those TVs?" Asked Ellie, a bit surprised to see a television store in the magical district of all things.
"Yeah, Albanian wizards are less prone to being idiots with technology. It also isn't the only shop of that kind here." Explained Agripina and Ellie scratched the back of her neck. That… put some things into perspective with the British wizarding community she had seen.
"Um, so, do you think they'll take the case? They're not exactly fans of wizards and witches from what little I heard in History before falling asleep." Asked Ellie, as they approached what looked like the office of Gringott's Bank in Diagon Alley which was… odd. Elli actually could swear the Goblins outside were the same guards, this wasn't her being racist, she could easily pick them out between one another so… yeah.
"You'd be surprised, at least in Albania things aren't that bad." Stated Agripina with a reassuring smile, though Ellie couldn't help feel a bit reluctant.
"I hope you're right, I haven't exactly spoken to any Goblins much." Muttered Ellie, trying not to draw attention to herself, though with her hat…
"Hold it, that Shapeshifter needs to drop the disguise." Ellie stumbled on this command, the Goblin who had spoken had intercepted her, while she had been a bit distracted.
Before she could respond, Az come out of from under her hat and, in a puff of smoke, shapeshifted into her human disguise. "No problem, though I don't think people here would like me to turn into my natural form." Stated Az, a few people stepping away from the obvious non-human.
"That will do, Azkalagora Tempesta Potter." Agreed the Goblin Guard, backing off to the baffled looks from the twins.
"Wait, you know who I am?" Asked Az, clearly baffled by this revelation.
The Goblin just snorted dismissively. "How often do you think we have a bunch of Wand Wavers come in so they can get a baby dragon and the humanoid who hatched from the same egg blood adopted by them? Gringott's manages Blood Adoption Rituals kids, and word goes around. Also, your human transformation is lousy." Stated the Goblin, smirking nastily at her.
Az wasn't phased by this. "First of all, I am not even 12 years old, you try being a master shapeshifter at 11. Second of all, how do you know this? I know for a fact we went to the Gringott's branch in Britain." Retorted Az, narrowing her eyes at the Goblin guard, whose grin grew a fair bit more predatory.
"We Goblins do not concern ourselves with the boundaries of humans little Godling-Dragon, what one part of our realm learns, we all do." Stated the Goblin, then turned back around and Ellie blinked, a bit confused by it all, and by how miss Agripina had stiffened at his words.
"Lets get inside you two, better not get on the nerves of these fine gentleman." Stated the woman at that point and, before they could protest, ushered the twins inside.
Inside Ellie noticed it looked exactly the same as the British Bank and now she was certain, these were the same Goblins from when she had been in the Bank last. But how? Though, that wasn't as much of a concern as the looks the twins got from the people around. "Az, I could swear this is the same bank I went to at Diagon Alley, how is that possible?" Asked Ellie nervously, sidling over to her sister for some protection.
"No idea, I felt some manner of magic pass over us, but that is about all I can tell. Maybe this is a case of quantum superposition? Though I don't know for what purpose." Muttered Az, looking around herself.
"Elizabeth Potter?" The two flinched as they heard those words and Ellie turned around, finding Lee Jordan, a boy from Gryffindor approaching. "Hot damn, Fred and George said you were staying in Albania!" Exclaimed the young man as he approached, his darker complexion and dreadlocks a bit of an oddity in Britain where he lived.
"Hi Lee, and yeah I actually should be in Albania, but… I don't know why Diagon Alley's branch seems to have replaced the Albanian one?" Answered Ellie, a bit awkward around the older boy who was the best friend of Fred and George Weasley.
"Huh, that sounds like A Wizard Did It." Joked the boy, then his attention fell on Az, who was eyeing him cautiously. "And… Uh, Elizabeth? Is that a dragon girl next to you?" Asked Lee, obviously unsure what to think about the girl.
"Ah, right, let me introduce you two. Az, this is Lee Jordan, he is friends with the older brothers of my friend Ron and is in Gryffindor like me. He's also the commentator during school Quidditch matches. Lee Jordan, meet my twin sister, Azkalagora Tempesta Potter, a Eliatropian Dragon who hatched from the same egg as me." Introduced Ellie the two and Lee stopped for a moment, looking between the two of them.
"Okay… I would call into question your sanity, but last year our DADA teacher was possessed by You-Know-Who, so my expectations of what is "Normal" are set pretty low by this point. So, what brings you guys to Gringott's anyway? I doubt it is about money given our supply lists haven't come in yet." Stated Lee, looking at the younger girl and her sister.
"We're gonna sue the Ministry of Magic in general and Albus Dumbledore in particular, going through the International Confederacy of Magic, for child neglect, child endangerment, child abandonment, dereliction of duty and kidnapping." Stated Az bluntly, and there was a solid five seconds of pause from the older student.
"Can you run that by me again? Why?" Asked Lee, sounding a wee bit disbelieving.
"Dumbledore left Ellie at the Dursley family's home, a family he knew was Xenophobic against anything that wasn't like them, especially magical folk. He also knew very much that Ellie was abused the whole time she was there, at least after she come to the school. He neglected to take care of either of us as default legal guardian. He also separated us, sending me to live at a Preserve meant for the Earth-native creatures bearing my species' name even though I have no connection to them. He never checked on whether or not I would devolve into being like them either and as for the Ministry of Magic, they let him do all of that, and neglected their duty to guarantee fair and unbiased trials, particularly to our godfather, Sirius Black, who was convicted as guilty without a trial." Listed off Az, she was the one who had planned this all out.
"Wait, what do you mean? Everyone knows Sirius Black betrayed the Potters by giving away their position, he was the Secret Keeper of the Fidelius Charm after all." Asked Lee, going by what the official story was.
"Let me clear something up there, he wasn't. I have perfect memory if you're wondering, I've been cognizant since we hatched. So I remember both the original casting and what happened a few weeks before Halloween of the damned year." Stated Az with a scoff, the story she had explained to Ellie soon after hearing why Sirius Black hadn't been taking care of his goddaughters.
"Sirius suggested, on account of his being an obvious choice for Secret Keeper, to secretly transfer the role over to Peter Pettigrew, reasoning that he would be less likely to be suspected due to his reputation. A miscalculation, because Pettigrew betrayed our adopted parents." Stated Az, the last sentence having her actually puff out some embers of fire from her mouth. This had been one of the biggest rage points for the young dragon and let her temper flare up, Ellie had seen her REALLY pissed off only a few times.
"Oh man, that's gonna be a hard sell to the guys in the ministry I think. I doubt they would be willing to admit any wrong-doing." Stated Lee, not even questioning Az's words, smart boy.
"That is why we're going to the ICM instead, they have authority above a regional government like the Ministry and none of the baggage." Stated Az, her predatory nature showing in the grin which had about a hundred times too many fangs for a near-human face like hers. Then again, that happens when a Shapeshifter decides to stuff her mouth full of teeth like this for shits and giggles.
"Ellie, Az, are you coming? The Lawyer will be seeing u- Oh, hey there mister Jordan, has been a while." Stated Agripina, surprising the twins and making Lee notice her.
"Ah- Miss Agripina? What are you doing here?" Asked Lee, looking startled, and looking between the twins and her which confused Ellie a bit.
"Escorting them in their quest, what else?" Answered Agripina and… winked at him? Ellie looked to Az, a non-verbal question of what was going on shot at her, but the dragon just shrugged her shoulders, looking lost like her Eliatrope.
"Ah, got it. I guess I'll see you guys later, me and my folks are just on our way to the international floo so I can go to camp. See you there miss Agripina." Stated Lee, leaving with those words as Ellie scratched her head.
"What camp?" Asked Az, looking to Agripina who chuckled.
"How about this, when we get back to the Preserve, Ellie shows me what is under her hat and I tell you what that was about." Offered Agripina and visibly took wayyy too much joy in Ellie gripping the brim of her hat in horror at that proposition.
A few minutes later the three of them sat in an office, opposite from the most severe, heavily scarred and wicked cool looking Goblin in the bank. Over his chair on the wall opposite the door in perfect view, hung what Ellie thought had to be a Bronze Trident, wicked sharp points included. There was some lettering on it, looked kinda like the text she saw on some photographs of Hebrew text, which looked suspicious.
This was the legendary "Lawyer of Satan", a Goblin lawyer said to have gotten Satan out of hell and into heaven before sueing Jesus into it. The man every wizard equivalent of a lawyer feared more than Voldemort as unlike the bastard, he never lost. His name? Gravehook, or at least that was the name he gave. Ellie suspected these names were aliases more than anything.
He was fairly tall for his species, about a head taller than professor Flitwick with one green eye, the other missing as he wore no eyepatch. His crooked nose was missing a piece at the bridge, his left ear was missing the half of it and Ellie could swear the scars on his bald head formed the words "Fuck around and Find Out". She was also certain she was imagining things.
"So, Misses Potter and miss Agripina Servastra, you are here to hire me, for what exactly?" Asked the Goblin, stapling his fingers in front of him as he stared them down.
Az, the primary planner of this operation, stepped up. "I'm sorry for taking your time sir, we wish to sue the Ministry of Magic in general and Albus Dumbledore in particular, for gross child neglect, child endangerment, child abandonment, kidnapping and dereliction of duty. We want to sue on the behalf of ourselves as well as our godfather, Sirius Black, who has been imprisoned without a trial at Azkaban Prison Island. I am willing, for this, to provide memories of when our adopted parents, James and Lily Potter, transferred the position of Secret Keeper from Sirius Black to Peter Pettigrew." Explained Az evenly, clearly trying to remain on this Goblin's good side.
"Hm… It would be… beneficial to have precedent of this sort I must confess, but what are you aiming for exactly with this? And what exactly is your reason to seek such unilateral litigation?" Asked Gravehook, obviously wanting to know what they were trying to do.
"Albus Dumbledore separated Ellie and myself, only hours after our adopted parents were killed. He placed me in a Dragon Preserve even though I am not truly a "Dragon" in the sense of that species, with the goal of having me "Naturalized" believing I was acting against my nature in spite of that. He also placed Ellie with the Dursley Family, a Xenophobic family of Muggles related to our adopted mother, Lily Potter nee Evans. In spite of clearly learning of their treatment of Ellie, he didn't remove her or inform her of my existence, instead sending her back to these things during summer. Furthermore, he neglected to ensure her well-being, didn't check up on her and left her to suffer for his failures. Additionally, he and the Wizengarmot, who we can place equal blame for neither curtailing him nor checking up on Ellie, failed to perform due diligence toward Sirius Black, the only man left who can claim the position of Lord of House Black, leaving him in Azkaban for the past almost eleven years without investigation. Furthermore, Dumbledore's last year blunder caused Hogwarts to be targeted by the dark failure known as Voldemort in his quest to obtain the Philosopher's Stone, which was only prevented by the efforts of Ellie and her companions, endangering not just her but the whole school." Explained Az and Ellie shuddered. Az had sat her down and spent an hour ranting about how irresponsible Dumbledore had been to endanger students in what, now that she had explained it, was obviously a test for Ellie rather than to prevent Voldemort from reaching the mirror and stone.
"I'm also willing to give my own memories up for review, of everything that happened when me and my friends went to try and protect the stone." Added Ellie, knowing that this would be a strong piece of evidence, particularly against Dumbledore, in regards to his negligence during the Philosopher's Stone thing.
"What stone?" Asked Gravehook at that point, surprising the twins a bit.
"Ah, the Philosopher's Stone? He stored it in the castle last year after Quirinus Quirrel, possessed by Voldemort, broke into the Bank to steal it but come in after Rubeus Haggrid retrieved it already." Explained Ellie and the Goblin's eye widened at that. Then he slammed his fist into the table.
"Are you telling me he kept from us the identity of the would-be thief and didn't even protect the damn thing properly?!" Exclaimed the Goblin, now ready to tear the old man a new asshole with his bare hands, or a pickax whichever was easier to get to.
"So he kept the whole thing under wraps too? Then how about we work together? We want to sue the Ministry of Magic and Dumbledore so hard that we get two new seats on the Wizengarmot at least, and make them so powerless against what we want that we could install a Muggle-born's father on one of those seats. Are you interested?" Asked Az and Gravehook paused, railing in his feelings for a moment, then a savage grin, the grin of a mad warrior, split his face.
"Alright girls, but we will include this breach of contract between the Ministry and us of Gringott's, because daring not to inform us of who is guilty of this offense breaches Section 94, paragraph 14 of the 1795 Peace Treaty." Stated Gravehook and Agripina whistled in appreciation.
"Damn, that Dumbledore fucked up." She commented, not minding her own vocabulary.
~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~
Albus Dumbledore winced.
It had been three weeks since Elizabeth Potter had run away from home and arrived at the Dragon Preserve, reuniting with what he had learned was a very much still undragon-like Azkalagora. And a week since Gravehook, on behalf of the Potter Twins and Sirius Black of all people, alongside the Goblin Nation due to a breach of a treaty from 1795, filed a lawsuit with the International Confederacy of Magic.
And he didn't have enough influence to dismiss that or file for settlement, which the twins were also against.
Who had they decided to put through the legal massacre? The Ministry of Magic in general, and him in particular. On an entire list of offenses which included several variations of "You fucked up in caring for these kids", which was directed at him personally and also the Ministry in general because they failed to meet standards of keeping an eye on how he handled the two of them.
The Ministry had no means of getting a Lawyer from the wizarding world, there literally were no wizard lawyers and the Goblins wouldn't send someone to go up against Gravehook, rumor had it that those who did ended their careers usually crying for their mommy.
Dumbledore had managed to find one lawyer, a Squib who had been from a supportive family in Ireland and had agreed to try and defend them.
It didn't go so well.
"Mister Dumbledore, you have seen the treatment miss Elizabeth Potter has suffered under the "Care" of the Dursley family with whom you left her. Tell me, what in the depths of Tartaros has possessed you to send her back when you first heard of this abuse?" Asked Gravehook while the Headmaster sat in the withness stand, being interrogated.
He felt like a chastised school child right now, Ellie had willingly let them extract her memories of growing up with the Dursleys, not all of it but enough to see, and she had been distraught beyond believe that she couldn't just leave them there, purging her memory of them. It had made her look even younger than she seemed.
"I had placed blood-based wards over the Dursley Residence, wards designed to mask Ellie's whereabouts against those serving the Dark Lord which would keep working as long as Ellie saw it as her home and returned there each year and stayed there for at least a month. Wards which were broken when she ran away." He answered, stealing a glance at their lawyer, who looked pale as a vampire. Given he had found out the case was lost already, not surprising.
The lawsuit dragged on another few weeks with representatives of the Ministry trying to wiggle out of the litigation, Elizabeth also getting her warning revoked after showing memories of the House Elf "Dobby" being the one casting magic and proving that her racial ability, Portal, was undetectable by the Trace.
This was quite a shock to find out, many hadn't even been aware that the young girl was truly not a human, but both of the twins being, well, twins and blood-adopted meant that they had all the rights of a human, as well as full legal protections as heirs to Noble Houses. This come to light when it was revealed that Sirius had named Azkalagora as his heir, and when he had been found innocent, Gravehook had gone for the jugular and reinstated him as the last candidate for the lordship title of the House of Black, thus making him Lord Black and Azkalagora the heir of the house.
By the time the verdict was finally decided, the Ministry had been hit by several nuclear bombs penalties.
The Wizengarmot seats of Houses Black and Potter were reinstated, the former occupied by Sirius Black, the latter taken in representation, on suggestion by Azkalagora, Remus Lupin.
2 further, brandnew Wizengarmot Seats were instated, filled by nominees of Heiresses Potter and Black, with them giving these seats to the Weasley Family, filled due to her husband's occupation, by Molly Weasley, and by Arven Granger, not that many were happy with the latter, because he was actually a Muggle. The irony wasn't lost on Dumbledore.
2 further seats were instated, to be occupied by representatives of the Independent Goblin Kingdoms, to be filled by Goblins, obviously.
Heiress Azkalagora Tempesta Potter, Heirress to the Ancient and Noble House of Black, was granted full citizenship and human equivalency, as such she would be attending Hogwarts with her sister with her private studies found to be sufficient to match up to someone who had completed their first year.
Albus Dumbledore was removed from his position as default Legal Guardian in the Magical World for magical orphans with further penalties pending revision. He was also removed from guardianship of the Potter twins.
A 5 billion Galleon Bounty was put out against Peter Pettigrew with information of his illegal status as an Animagus brought out.
Arthur Weasley ended up bringing in the rat of his youngest son, Ron, which turned out to be Peter Pettigrew in disguise, having been in hiding this whole time. The Weasley Family had a humongous windfall, yes.
¾s of the Wizengarmot were removed due to corruption or affiliation with Death Eaters in following investigations, replacements yet to be found.
Azkaban Prison was to be abandoned as punishment.
All Inmates were to be re-tried because of the mistrial, or lack of trial, of Lord Black.
Rubeus Haggrid's case was, on insistence of the Potter Twins, reviewed and he was found not-guilty due to discrepancies between the easy to identify infant Acromantula compared to the equally easily identified effects of a Basilisk or Cockatrice, he was reimbursed and to be reinstated as a student if he so wished. Haggrid was crying tears of joy periodically for the next month and Dumbledore couldn't say he wasn't happy this turned out to be the case.
The Trace was removed from the Potter Twins due to their living in magic-heavy environments.
The Ministry of Magic would be forced to pay out compensation to the Potter Twins and Gringott's in monthly payments for 50 years, each payment being 500 Galleons. Dumbledore himself would have his account emptied by 200 Galleons each month for the next 30 years as well for each. And this was to accounts for Azkalagora, Elizabeth and the Goblins each.
And those were just the changes forced on the British ministry and him, this wasn't even counting all the retrials to be done in the following YEARS!
Massaging his temples, he decided to, instead of being the stereotype of an old man thinking the problem had to lie with others, to look at it as a lesson. He had been too strongly entrenched in his ways, he hadn't taken into account all the possible outcomes and suffering that may come from his assumptions. He was only human after all, it had been folly of his to assume he could predict how the two alien children would act or develop.
So, he would concentrate instead on what was his actual job: Being the headmaster of Hogwarts. At least nobody had been able to spin this into him being behind it all given he himself had been hit by more than a few of the lawsuit aspects and was now forced to pay an exorbitant amount of money to the twins on his own.
On the plus side, maybe his plan to have Gilderoy Lockhart unmasked as the fraud he was would work better now that Azkalagora was in the school. She seemed to have a good head on those shoulders of hers.
~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~
"Ellie!" Exclaimed Hermione as she spotted the unique hat of one of her best friends as she and her parents come to Diagon Alley, the day after the letter with her Hogwarts list had come.
With Ellie were both Sirius Black, the recently found innocent Lord of House Black, and the equally recently unveiled twin sister of Ellie, Azkalagora Potter. With them was also a young woman with a noticeable limp and long, curly blonde hair. She looked a rather Southern-European thought Hermione.
"Hey 'mione, how have you been?" Asked Ellie with a big grin on her face, there was a far greater happiness in the somewhat younger girl. This was a stark contrast to the still conflicted girl Hermione met on the first ride on the Hogwarts Express. Even though Ellie had been doing her best to socialize, her almost shrinking back into her hat back then had been a bad sign. That, and the rings under her eyes.
Now, while still wearing the rather iconic hat of hers like always, Ellie was much more energetic, and if the Daily Prophet was to be believed, and since it wasn't reported by Rita Skeeter it may actually be trustworthy, this was due to her sister. "I've been good, and looks like you did as well." Responded Hermione, this day was getting better and better, not only was there an autograph session with Gilderoy Lockhart, but she ran into Ellie right away and her friend was in higher spirits than she had seen her before.
"Yup, Hermione, this is my sister, Azkalagora, or Az for short. And yeah, she's a dragon and I'm not human either." Informed Ellie, sounding very happy about these news. Given her adopted parents' relatives, Hermione couldn't blame her.
"It is a pleasure Az, I'm Hermione Granger." Introduced Hermione herself to the shorter draconic girl.
"Nice to meet you Hermione. And you must be Mister Granger? The Dentist my sister decided to put on the Wizengarmot?" Asked Az, turning halfway through to Hermione's father which earned her a giggle from the brunette. The news of her father joining the Magical government because her best friend apparently promised one of her goals to be to put a Muggle on the Wizengarmot was still kind of crazy.
The group soon moved from the Leaky Cauldron, where they had been the center of attention, to Diagon Alley. Ellie and Az had arrived with their own chaperones by Floo. "We're still living in Albania technically, Sirius' place isn't exactly habitable in the current state." Explained Ellie as they passed through the archway.
"I can't imagine that would be easy, I assume with Albania you mean the Dragon Preserve I heard you two met at?" Asked Hermione, it was a bit hard to find good information on the Preserve itself, namely because it wasn't meant to be visited easily, even though a not even 12 years old girl had made it there relatively easily.
"Yup, I got a cabin there and the local dragons got just enough brain cells not to pick a fight with me. Benefits of being a stronger species." Stated Az easily with a cocky grin and Ellie giggled in response to that.
"Yeah, you should've seen the Iron Belly yesterday who thought he should pick a fight with Az, took Charlie and the other handlers two hours to dig it up." Stated Ellie with a huge grin and Hermione couldn't help her own laugh at the image of little Az managing to put an Iron Belly, a pretty tough species of dragon, into the Earth so hard.
"So, what should we get first? I need a wand for myself, though no robes, not real reason to get any when I just create my clothes when transforming." Stated Az with a shrug and Hermione eyed her, but didn't comment. She knew enough from news that Az was a shapeshifter.
"We'll have to buy a whole lot of books too, particularly from this Gilderoy Lockhart guy. You know anything about him Hermione?" Asked Ellie and Hermione was a fair bit surprised to hear this, though then she had to remind herself that Ellie had probably spent more time isolated from the magical world than her thanks to the Dursleys and then living at the Dragon Preserve.
"He is a famous wizard who has traveled all over the world. Those books are all about his journeys and the heroic deeds he performed, leading to him being awarded the Order of Merlin Third Grade. He is incredibly famous because of that." Explained Hermione, trying, and honestly failing, to keep her adoration out of her voice.
"Oh god, Hermione don't tell me you have a crush on some dude who could probably be your dad." Asked Ellie, sounding disgusted at the idea and Hermione paused, because she hadn't considered that.
A shudder went through Hermione when her mind wandered to the wildest of places, her pupils dilating, forming goosebumps, and suddenly, that photograph she wanted him to sign for her looked a whole lot less appealing. Ellie, Az and their adult escorts, all stopped to look at her.
Then Az turned to Ellie. "Congrats sis, I think you just broke her kiddie crush." Stated the dragon and Ellie nodded, smirking in satisfaction. Hermione had to wonder why her friend took such pleasure in that but then again, thinking about it intellectually, it would be awful if Lockhart, an adult, managed to take advantage of her crush.
Though breaking her out of her fantasies so abruptly was still not a laughing matter!
Just as she was about to retort, Ellie seemed to stop. "Hey, uh, what is the alley over there? "Knockturn Alley" I mean?" Asked Ellie, pointing to an alleyway that went off Diagon Alley and looked extremely seedy even to Hermione.
"Oh that, you don't want to go there." Stated Sirius, following her finger and frowned. "Naturally Lucius Malfoy had to go there. Wonder why he brought his son." Stated Sirius and Hermione realized that yes, Draco Malfoy was there with an older man with long, platinum-blonde hair.
"Well if it isn't Sirius Black with the adopted heirs of Potter." Stated the man, an audible arrogance in every word he spoke.
"I wouldn't be so arrogant if I was you, last I checked you're on the ICM's shitlist as a suspected Death Eater and Gravehook said I can call him if I need another lawyer." Pointed out Az at that point and the man bristled at her words.
"Mind your tongue, animal. The name of Malfoy holds more than enough power to make you regret angering me." Growled the man, and Az grinned up at him, way too many fangs visible in her mouth.
"Try me, Terrorist." She challenged back and Hermione took a step back, up until Ellie sighed, grabbing Az of all people by the ear and, from nowhere, a woman come and did the same to Lucius Malfoy, both of them pulling their respective partners away from one another.
"Az, we agreed to let justice work itself out." Reprimanded Ellie with a sigh of resignation.
"Lucius, a bit more control if you would? It isn't very Slytherin to pick a fight with a literal alien dragon over some taunts." Reprimanded the woman who Hermione belatedly realized was likely Draco's mother.
"Narcissa, looks like you got your hands full huh cousin?" Asked Sirius with a bit of a smirk on his face.
"I would say the same about you, but apparently Heiress Potter has more self-control than my son gave her credit for." Agreed the woman, Narcissa Malfoy, as Hermione found herself looking back and forth between the two sides of the conversation as Az held her ear painfully, it being longer than a human one didn't help, but unlike Ellie, Miss Malfoy hadn't let go of her husband.
"I'd say "Kids", but your husband is way too old for that." Noted Sirius amused by the treatment of his cousin's husband.
"Ah, am I interrupting something?" Asked a new voice and Ellie noticed a man with ginger hair approaching, from the direction of a gaggle of gingers she knew well.
"Hey Arthur, nah just a bit of a reunion between estranged cousins. Say should I tell poor Draco that the dragon is his cousin technically?" Asked Sirius, then paused dramatically, acting in fact far too dramatic, gasping. "Oh, sorry. You know, it is just since she is the HEIR of House Black and all that. I mean, I wasn't expecting that back then, not knowing I would be reinstated into the family because of dear Bellatrix getting locked up in something other than a psych ward." Explained Sirius, sounding all too pleased with having robbed his nephew of that position.
"Hardly a need to sugarcoat it Sirius, though I must confess I'm not happy with your choice in heir being so scaly, it is none of my business. Besides, my son is the heir of the Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy already, and I do not plan on becoming pregnant again." Stated Narcissa, pushing a lock of her hair behind her ear, whether it was necessary or not was anyone's guess.
"Well, I am curious why a respected member of the Wizengarmot would go to Knockturn Alley of all places, I mean, that is the place for illegal Items and dark magic after all." Stated mister Weasley, narrowing his eyes at the man who was, effectively, his wife's political rival.
"None of your business, Weasley." Growled mister Malfoy out, seemingly having lost his composure a bit.
"On the contrary, if you trade in such Items, it is in actual fact my business." Stated mister Weasley, he sounded pretty confident in that as mister Malfoy glared at him.
At least, he did so until his wife grabbed his ear, again, and pulled him away with Draco glaring at them one last time before getting out of there, likely because he didn't have his usual back-up while Hermione's little group now included not just the girl who, unironically, kicked him in the balls, but also her literal dragon twin, with both of them having a good reputation evidently with an infamous Goblin Lawyer.
"So… that happened." Stated Ron as he come over, and Hermione noted he was wearing what looked like new clothes, not his usual hand-me-downs. They weren't expensive, but it was clear the Weasleys had chosen to at least get the whole family some QoL improvements in terms of wardrobes.
"Hi Ron, how has it been?" Asked Ellie, smiling at her friend who, after a moment, grinned back at her.
"Pretty good! I mean, Scabbers turned out to be a guy which is disturbing, but I'm pretty sure we've never had this much cash to actually do stuff with! Hell, me and Ginny are getting brand-new wands!" Exclaimed Ron enthusiastically and Hermione smiled happily for him, she knew he had some serious issues with the previous one which had been a hand-me-down.
"Good to hear. Ah, I should introduce you I think!" Declared Ellie, and Hermione concluded they hadn't actually met up before this point, likely because of distance and things like that. "Ron Weasley, this is my twin sister, Azkalagora Potter. Az, this is Ron, he was my first actual friend, and he and Hermione are my best friends too." Explained Ellie with a big grin on her face and Hermione felt a warmth grow in her chest at that, though knowing it took Ellie this long to have friends was still horrifying.
"Nice to meet you Ron, hope you don't mind my being, well, all scaly and stuff." Responded Az as she held out her hand, which Ron took to shake.
"Nah, as long as you're not a spider I'm game, especially with what I heard. Sorry you got separated because of the Headmaster." Stated Ron and that was surprisingly tactful of him, though then again Hermione supposed he wasn't riled up or had negative emotions for Az.
"Thanks. So, Ellie told me you got a sister who's gonna attend this year?" Asked Az as the rest of the Weasleys joined the group, including a girl a bit younger than Hermione herself who looked to be Ron's sister, Ginny.
"Yup, she's gonna be the first Weasley this generation to get all her school stuff new." Noted Ron, sounding a bit jealous but also glad for her. Hermione wasn't sure what that could have caused, he usually would've been way more jealous, but she did suspect his own situation had taken care of that.
"Heh, I'm really glad for you guys. I mean, the bounty was a surprise for sure, but a welcome one indeed I think." Stated Ellie, smiling happily for the family they both knew had been on poverty's doorstep a lot. Hermione couldn't argue with that sentiment either.
"So, we should head for Gringott's, I doubt any of us have enough money on hand for all these books." Stated Sirius, holding up the shopping list from Hogwarts the twins had gotten.
"Sounds like a plan, gotta get to the Vault anyway to put it there." Stated Az and Ellie nodded, though Hermione had to fight back an urge to ask what she meant by that. She had noticed the twins had some bag with them.
They soon arrived at the bank and after some debate with Sirius, the twins headed for the Potter vault, evidently wanting to "Deposit" their item there in private. It wasn't until they were off on the nightmare rollercoaster of Gringott's that Sirius snorted. "Man, I wish I knew why they're making such a fuss about it. Or where Az got the egg from." Stated Sirius, and that caught the attention of the others.
"Egg?" Asked Miss Weasley, confused by the rather random item mentioned.
"Yup, the remember that dark gray egg with the red stripes that showed up way back when? The one from which these two hatched?" Asked Sirius and the adults nodded, which caught Hermione's attention. She knew the two had hatched from an egg, she had heard as much, but there were the details.
"Well, somehow Az knew where to find it again. Unbroken I may add. They've been guarding it the whole time, debating where to put their "Dofus" for safe keeping. Ellie suggested your family actually Molly, but Az insisted to wait with a proper guardian a bit longer. From what I understood they think if they die, they'll be reincarnated in the egg." Explained Sirius as they headed for the Weasley Vault and after that the Black vault.
When they arrived at the latter, they were joined again by the twins, who stared at one particular Item. "Sirius, what the hell is with that cup?" Asked Az, and Hermione noticed the young dragon's eyes were glowing a cyan color which was… odd.
"Uh, no idea? Mister Griphook, any idea who put that there? Can't remember it being there before I was exiled." Asked Sirius, staring at the Item which was an ornate cup of some sort. Hermione could've sworn it was the Holy Grail with how it looked.
"That was placed there by Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black over 11 years ago. As she has been convicted of high treason to your government she has no claim to it anymore." Stated the Goblin escorting them, speaking quite flatly and uninterested, but not as disrespectful as one could think of his kind.
"Well, whatever it is, it has Wakfu in it and damn, it is evil looking. Looks like the traces of foreign Wakfu on that Malfoy guy's right forearm." Stated Ellie and, turning around, Hermione saw for a moment that her eyes had also been glowing before they stopped doing so, at the same time as Az.
"Wak- you mean that energy you two use?" Asked Sirius, apparently knowing a fair bit more about the odd powers of the twins than the rest.
"Yeah, not just our power it is the life force of all living things, every living being has Wakfu. But that Goblet shouldn't, it is like there is a piece of a soul in it." Stated Az and the gathered humans stared at them, particularly in horror.
"Okay, that sounds so wrong, especially if it is similar to something on Lucius-motherfucking-Malfoy's forearm." Stated Sirius, ignoring the protests to his language from Miss Weasley.
"So, should we destroy it?" Asked Ellie, looking to her godfather for advise on that.
"Yeah, nothing with any connection to old Snake-face is worth keeping. But how-?" Sirius' words were cut off as Ellie waved her hand, a portal snapping open under the cup and swallowing it, before she closed it, opened another, and closed it just as the cup was through halfway, cutting it clean in half. There was an unearthly shriek as black mist emerged from it as everyone stared at the pieces while the second half fell out.
"You can't be Sirius, the motherkiller is a Lich?" Asked Az as Hermione winced at the pun as well as the implication of what she just said.
What in the hell were they getting into now?
~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~O~~o~~
And closing the chapter here. What did you all think? And yes, a lot has already changed.
For anyone who wants to protest the Horcrux getting destroyed so easily, what exactly can it do to stop itself from being cut in half by the portal closing?
For length, without commentary, this chapter is 7332 words long.