Snape and Lupin looked between each other, neither knowing what to say. They didn't want to admit that they hadn't thought that far ahead. They all sat in silence for a few minutes, the two adults thinking about what they were going to say. "I would like to convey my thoughts on all of this and to just affirm some things." the potions master started hesitantly. "Firstly I completely agree with the steps and precautions you have taken so far. And would like to state so there is no confusion that I will be here to help you if and when you need it." He was being very serious and direct with Hadrian, making him look down at his hands and pick at his cuticles. No one, not even Sirius had said something like that to him. "In no way do I agree with anything Albus has done nor was I aware of it. I need you to understand that. I am fully aware that my attitude towards you over the past two years has been anything but pleasant, but please understand that I am serious in my offer of assistance." hadrian was floored with just how open his professor was being, especially after the hostility of the last six or so years that hadrian has known the man. "As for what happens now I think the most immediate thing that needs to be done is a cleansing for Remus. The only problem being we can't do it ourselves and he can't go to St Mungo's so we're at an impasse." hadrian just blinked at him.
"Why can't you just go to the goblins?" the two adults stared at him as if he had suggested they steal all the headmasters lemon drops. "Where do you think I got all the spells that were on me removed?" Remus spoke up after another minute of silent staring.
"Cub, I don't have that kind of relationship with the goblins, Merlin knows how you do, and even if I did I dont have the money for that." Hadrian stood and went to the office and pulled out the two way communication book he had with Goruk and wrote a quick message.
Hadrian - I have two people who I have disclosed my situation to, one of whom has spells on him. Unfortunately he is unable to go through St Mungo's to get them removed. I was wondering if you would be willing to put some time aside tomorrow evening to get both men tested and cleansed if necessary. using the funds out of the Peverell vault to pay for it and of course the 10% commission for yourself.
Goruk - I will set the appointment for seven tomorrow evening and have two cleansing rituals set up and waiting for their arrival. I will require their names for our records.
Hadrian - Remus Lupin and Severus Snape
Goruk - if you manage to get Potions Master Snape in this building the goblin nation would appreciate it. We have been trying to contact him for a while now but have so far been ignored. I can not disclose more information just know we would be grateful.
With nothing else to say knowing he couldn't ask more about the thing with Snape he closed the book and walked back into the receiving room and sat down. "You both have an appointment at seven tomorrow evening with the goblins. I suggest not being late." he took a sip of his tea and grimaced. It was cold. With a pop a new cup of hot tea was placed in front of him and he took it. "Also I don't know why you've been ignoring the goblins but they're not happy about it, and will more than likely talk to you about it tomorrow." He sent Snape a disappointed glare and received shocked confusion back.
"I haven't received any missives from the goblins. Only a complete idiot would ignore the beings that control our money." Well that was interesting.
"I suggest mentioning that when you see them tomorrow."
"Speaking of which." Remus cut in. "How did you get us an appointment that quickly? You weren't even gone for five minutes."
"I have a two way communication book with the potter account manager." Snape groaned and put his head in his hands using his thumbs to rub at his temples. Remus closed his eyes and took a long deep breath. When he spoke he kept his eyes closed.
"At some point I will ask about that, just not today. I don't want to know what you did to get the goblins to like you that much." Hadrian didn't understand what the big deal was. The goblins were just keeping an important client happy. That's all it was.
"You do realize I hold three of four Duke titles, as well as two of the three Margrave titles, and am the head of all four founding families? Right? I hold a large majority of wealth and power. They're just keeping one of their assets happy." Remus shook his head.
"That's not how the goblins work harry. Yes they like money and power but just having that doesn't mean they'll like you. If anything they like to show wixen who think they have power how little it means to them."
"Oh, well I thought it was because of that so I don't know why they like me." another groan came from Snape who still hasn't removed his head from his hands.
"Well I think this is enough for today unless you have anything to ask of us?" Lupin directed his Question to Hadrian and Snape raised his head to look at him indicating he was still paying attention.
"Just, I know we were acting under presumptions before and they have been cleared up now but…" he looked at Snape. "We need to keep the animosity between us in public. In fact we could use it to our advantage. I need to learn more about our culture and customs, as well as etiquette. I bought a few books but a lot falls under dark values, which means it's hard to find. If you could give me detention at least once a week you could teach me what you know. I could also do my best in potions and still have you downgrade me so i don't have to put effort into underachieving. It's harder than you would think." Snape raised an eyebrow at that.
"You've been purposely underachieving?" Harry just nodded. "I'll see what I can do about that." Snape looked a little reluctant before sighing and nodding. "I would need to stay hostile to make sure Mr Weasley and Miss Granger stayed ignorant anyway. Also in case it wasn't clear before, you can trust us. We are on your side in this so please include us. I will inform you of anything I think will be of any value." Did he just say he was now essentially his spy? Hadrian just nodded at the older man and downed the last of his tea before standing. The two men followed and he led them back to the seventh floor to drop off Remus, then went to potions lab three. Once they were back in the lab he decided to say one more thing to the potions master before heading back to his dorms. He walked towards the door and rested his hand on the handle.
"I read some of my dads journals when I found them and I just wanted to say, the way the marauders treated you was not okay, and I'm sorry." not waiting for a response he quickly left and headed up to Gryffindor tower.
Snape watched the boy leave in shocked silence. He never thought he would get an apology for all the years of torment, but once again the Youngest Potter had ignored his expectations; he shook his head to get him out of his daze and went to his Quarters. A few minutes later his floo flared and Remus stepped through. They sat down in silence for a few minutes while he poured them both a glass of firewhisky. After taking a long drink he spoke. "That was not what I expected." Remus snorted a surprise laugh and tried not to choke on his drink.
"No kidding. We were prepared to try and convince him to at least listen to our suspicions, and he came in like: 'Oh, I know. He's the worst, isn't he? I have already been dealing with it for god knows how long, and have already started to discreetly remove his power base.' because that's a normal thing a thirteen year old can do." Snape groaned, rubbing at his eyes.
"Yes, and there's his relationship with the goblins to consider. What on earth could he have done, that he didn't even know he had done, that could build that kind of rapport with the goblins. They don't even like Lady Zabini that much. she would still have to wait a week for an appointment and even though she does have a direct communication method with them, it's nothing as informal and instantaneous as a communication journal." he moved his hands to rub at his temples. Those short conversations had revealed so much information and he was not prepared for most of it. There was one thing he was endlessly curious about though and was sure Remus felt the same. "What do you think all the doors led to in Slytherins chamber?" Remus looked at him, his eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"One of them has to be a library right? Could you imagine the kind of knowledge that's kept there. Even if it's small the books would be old magic and probably extremely rare." Lupin continued to babble, theorizing over the types of magic and things the other doors could hold. Severus remained silent, content to just listen to the wolf's excited chatter.
It was Tuesday and Harry had been excited for their first care of magical creatures class. It was the same as last time with him getting to ride Buckbeak. Harry had just dismounted and was talking to Hagrid when he heard Malfoy approaching. With the lack of animosity between him and the Slytherins he thought this wouldn't happen this time. Spinning on his heel he reached Malfoy just in time to pull him back by his shirt collar. Unfortunately the momentum pulled Harry forward and Buckbeak managed to scratch his upper arm and shoulder. it was only a scratch, nothing too deep but it was large. However he was happy it was him and not Malfoy. This way no one should get involved and Buckbeak should be fine. The hippogriff let out a small trill and nuzzled the scratch on Harry's arm. He pet his beak, showing he was fine. It was then that Ron suddenly broke the quiet Harry hadn't realized had settled.
"What'd you do that for mate? Should have let Malfoy take it." He turned to see a scowling group of Gryffindors and a mildly shocked group of Slytherins; the only exception being an extremely pale Malfoy who was staring at Harry's arm where blood was soaking through his shirt.
"And what damage do you think his father would have done if he got severely injured?" Harry raised an eyebrow at the Gryffindors. Most looked a little sheepish but Ron was scowling at Malfoy and Hermione had a lite in her eyes he couldn't identify. "I'm going to madam Pomfrey, it's still a creature injury and it needs treating." he nodded to Hagrid and left.
In the time Harry had been gone, Ron had managed to earn himself a week of detention and neither Ron nor Hermione were giving him a straight answer as to how he got it. As the rest of the day progressed it became clear to him that the Slytherins wanted to talk to him, they had been hovering since he came back from the hospital wing. Even now during dinner they were sending him not so subtle glances. Scooting towards Neville while the two idiots were distracted he asked his question in a soft whisper. "What did Ron do to get detention?" Neville blinked at him a few times and gave a small shrug.
"He cast a tripping jinx at Malfoy." Harry looked across the table at Dean who was the one to answer his question. Why would Ron do that? It's not like he was actually Harry's friend, he wouldn't care if Harry got hurt. Unless he just used it as an excuse to hex Malfoy, that would make more sense. Seamus leaned forward and continued.
"He cast it while Malfoy was on the stairs. Luckily he wasn't too far up and one of his goons cushioned his fall, but still. also this isn't just gossip we heard. we were there, we saw it happen. Honestly, I can't believe Ron did that. I get that Malfoy is kinda a jerk but he could have been seriously injured." Harry was so shocked he forgot his brain to mouth filter.
"He's also the only Heir to one of the Four Marquess families. If that had ended badly it would have been.." he trailed off noticing Neville raising an eyebrow at him. Both Dean and Seamus were staring at him in shock.
"You mean he isn't just a pompous git. That his family is nobility?" Harry had forgotten that even though they were half bloods Seamuses mother was a muggle born witch and his father a muggle, so raised him in a mostly muggle household. Dean was raised similarly; they may know nobles existed in the magical world, but not much more. sharing a look with Neville, he realized that now might be the time they needed to have that talk. He wanted to speak to Snape and Lupin about their trip to Gringotts yesterday but it could wait.
"What are you talking about?" Hermione snapped next to them and harry panicked
"Did you know acromantula nests have a royalty form of hierarchy? you have the Queen who is the highest form of authority, then there is the king right below her. When they get older they will pick a Prince and a princess to take their places when they die, as well as having forms of knights, gards, gatherers, and grunts. All of which have their own jobs and rules they must abide by. It works similarly to an ant nest and like an ant nest the Queen is much bigger than the others, about double the size of the king." Harry had no clue where that knowledge came from, or why that was what he said, but it was done now and he couldn't undo it. He heard a clatter and looked up to see all heads in their vicinity staring at him with faces of puzzlement, horror and some with hesitant curiosity. After a minute Ron decided to speak up.
"Yeah. I didn't need to know that mate." he looked pale then his eyes suddenly widened. "If Aragog was the King then that means there was another one double his size." a visible shudder ran through the red head. "I'm gonna get to my detention." he slowly got up and walked away, his eyes glassy and unfocused. Maybe he should get a pet spider, it would be a good deterrent.
"Well I will see you later harry." and that was Hermione gone. The only time she left him alone like this is when she went to report to the headmaster. So he probably had about an hour, maybe more if he could find a good place to speak to the others. The best place was probably the library.
"Library?" he raised an eyebrow at Neville who just nodded and silenced the two others when they went to speak, motioning them to follow. They walked to the doors and Harry saw the Slytherins get up and start to follow. Falling slightly behind the other boys he turned his head to glare at the Slytherins attempting to follow and shook his head once. Continuing to the library he was happy to see they took his hint and went back towards their common room. Entering the library they saw it was a bit busy. He wondered if there was a quiet alcove somewhere one a little harder to find would have been great. He almost stumbled when he felt a tug of Hogwarts magic but quickly recovered and followed the pull. It led deep into the shelves, around a few turns. At the end of a long stretch of shelves there was a small gap and he walked through. It led to the back wall of the library where there was a large bay window with cushioned seating and a small table in the center. The window made the space glow in the light of the setting sun, making it a lot lighter than the rest of the library, which was rather dark and stuffy. Walking forward he sat down on one of the cushions and practically melted, it was so soft. He laid his head on the table as the others filled in the seats around him.
"So want to explain to us why a perfectly normal conversation was covered up by fun facts about acromantulas?"
"Ron and Hermione can't ever hear us talking about nobility, traditions, and stuff like that with Harry." Neville was the one to answer Dean's question and Harry looked at him curiously. What did he know and how did he know it? Neville looked at Harry directing his next statement at him. "From what I can tell from the last two years. Weasley and Granger have been pulling him away from conversations and topics to do with things like that. I don't think it would end well if they found out that he already knew about it." Harry lifted his head from the table and nodded. The boy had only had suspicions and circumstantial evidence, nothing concrete, which means it wasn't too obvious, and doubtful anyone else would notice. That was good.
"Okay, But why? It's not like it matters to them." Harry wanted to laugh. Neville looked at him questioningly, clearly not knowing if he should talk about it, so Harry decided to do it.
"Okay so a quick rundown of nobility. You have the highest rank they are the Duke Titles of which there are four. One Grand Duke family and three Duke Families. Below them you have the Margrave and Marquess titles there are seven in total. Three Margrave and four Marquess. Both are considered to be of the same rank. Under them you have the Earl and Count titles. Six of each, twelve in total. Then Viscount there are twenty families, and lastly Barrons of which there are twenty-eight." He looked between the two other boys who were nodding along, and Seamus took that moment to ask a question.
"So Malfoy is the second highest rank then." Neville decided to answer this one.
"Not exactly. Currently all the duke titles are dormant. That means no one knows who holds the titles, but magic still recognizes the bloodline as alive. Also even though Margrave and Marquess are the same rank, most people don't hold them in the same regard. Holding the Margrave Title slightly higher."
"But if the Duke families are gone and people hold Margrave above Marquess then he is still the second highest ranked." Neville thought for a moment and conceded the point. "Does that mean he is also the highest socially ranked in the school? and what does this have to do with Weasley and Granger keeping Harry away from it?" Neville turned to him and Harry continued where he left off.
"Well for one thing the Weasleys are a Barron family, a disgraced one, but one nonetheless. As well as their mother being the last of the Prewett line giving them the title of viscount." Both boys were gaping as Harry continued. "The Potters and Longbottoms are also nobility, but like Neville said, I'm not supposed to know that."
"And Malfoy? Please tell me that someone outranks him." Harry just sighed.
"Three people outrank him in the school. One is more of a technicality though. Susan Bones is the technicality. She is the Heir Apparent because her parents died in the last war; the title of Countess goes to her as soon as she reaches Seventeen. Currently her aunt acts as Regent. But that puts her above him because she is the head of her family, not just an Heir. Then you have Neville and Me. We are both the Heir Apparent of our houses and will claim the titles when we turn seventeen. The Potters and Longbottoms both hold the title of Margrave." The two boys sat for a minute looking between Neville and Him.
"What are the names of the other Duke, Margrave, and Marquess families?"
"Peverell is the Grand Duke. Lefay Emrys and Pendragon are the Duke Titles. Black Potter and Longbottom are the Margrave Titles. Ollivander, Ravenclaw, Malfoy, and Lestrange are the Marquess Titles. The lands of magical Britain were split between all but Pendragon whose lands reside in the muggle world. The borders of Albion were split between the three Margraves to protect and oversee. The middle lands were split in four and given to the Marquess families. All the other noble families fall under the rain of those seven families which is why there is such a big divide in power and status between the Margrave/Marquess families and the next step down."
"So each of you owns a seventh of the magical world?" The boys were still staring at them with wide eyes.
"No. The three Margraves hold more land because they own the borders and it's only split three ways, and Lefay and Emrys Have their own lands outside of what is currently considered Albion. Not to mention the fact that Albion is not the only nation in the magical world. The ratios are closer to: each Margrave owning 16% of Albion and each Marquess owning 13%." Harry did the quick math in his head and worked out with his titles he owned 45% of Albion. Harry was internally freaking out while Neville continued his explanation. "Albion consists of 70% of magical Britain with the other 30% being held by Lefay, Emrys, and Peverell outside of what is considered Albion." Harry had not known these numbers and was having a small breakdown; he owned 61.5% of magical Britain. Not wanting to think about it right now, he decided to move them back on topic.
"Back to the original point of wanting to talk to you privately. Why are you three actively getting between Weasley, Granger, and I?" The three looked between each other looking a little nervous, Neville looking down at his hands twisting them together not making eye contact with anyone. Dean sighed and looked to harry.
"Granger came up to us last year after we had been hanging out with you towards the end of the year and basically told us to back off. That we were bothering you, but you were too nice to say anything to us yourself. you came to us the next day and started a conversation like everything was fine only for them to keep pulling you away. That's when we realized it probably wasn't you that wanted us gone." Harry remembered in the previous timeline, that third year was when the other boys started to speak to him less, and realized the small act of him approaching them first was the thing that made such a big change. "After that we started to watch them more and saw just how closely they kept tabs on you as well as how often they would pull you away from other people."
"Yeah and how annoyed you looked every time they did it." Seamus chimed in. "you would take the opportunity every time they were distracted to slip away, and have some time to yourself. When you came back they would interrogate you like you don't have a right to do anything without them."
"In all honesty they don't treat you like a friend, and it's clear you don't trust them. You make that obvious when you don't perform your best in class." Harry raised an eyebrow at that. "I don't know if you remember, you had just woken up and seemed a little out of it, but last year you performed silent magic to fix the plant from my side table that got knocked to the floor. It was way above what we are currently covering in class." Harry was trying to remember doing that but was drawing a blank. Eventually the memory came to him and he let his head fall to the table with a thunk.