July 14, 1994

"If I hearone more personsuggest murder as a way to deal with Umbridge, I will personally escort them to the head Auror's office on suspicion of conspiracy to murder,am I clear?"

"Hey, Harry, may I ask you something?"

"Of course, Remus, come on in."

Remus stood awkwardly at the door, and Harry's mind immediately went into overdrive thinking of all the things that could possibly be the cause of that. Remus was not this way normally, not around him at least (anymore), and that meant something was wrong, which meant something had probably happened, and now Harry had to figure it out so he could fix it.

"Is everything alright?" he asked, deciding it was best to start with the most general of questions.

"Hmm? Oh, yes, everything is fine," Remus said, not quite meeting his eyes.

Oh, something was definitely up.

"Did…something happen?"

"Yes. Well, no. I mean, yes, but it's not that important."

"Right…" Harry was not finding Remus at all convincing right now. This needed immediate fixing. "So, you needed to ask me something?"

Remus cleared his throat and finally took the final steps into Harry's study. Harry felt a bit like a teacher staring down an anxious student, and wasn't that just a heap of strange role reversals that didn't bear thinking about at the moment.

Clearing his throat once more, Remus began, "So what would you say your position on murder is?"

Harry didn't precisely have an inkling of what sort of question Remus was going to be asking, but that was most certainly not it. "Er, bad? In general, I believe murder could be termed a bad thing. Why? Do you need someone killed?" Harry racked his brain for other possible reasons for this question. "Didyoukill someone?"

He mentally began running calculations on how quickly he could dispose of a body. Most likely a matter of minutes, really.

Remus's vehement denial of the existence of a body in need of disposing brought that line of thought to an abrupt halt.

"So…" Harry wasn't quite sure how to proceed. "May I ask what prompted this question?"

"Umbridge," Remus stated.

Harry winced. So maybe he had been alittlehard on…everyone regarding Umbridge, and it was possible he had forgotten how much reason Remus personally might have for wanting to be rid of her, but…

"And Pettigrew."

Oh. Well, that was an unexpected direction.

"Go on…"

"Look, I get why you are against killing someone you don't agree with, or that has done terrible things," Remus said.

Harry was feeling much better about this entire conversation.

"But…"

Ah. He understood where this was going now. "Why did I breakintoAzkaban, let Sirius kill Pettigrew slowly, and then cover the entire thing up?"

Remus's slight wince was an indication thatmaybehe was being a little blunt.

"I suppose that about sums it up, yeah. Of course, at that moment I probably would have joined you, although the effigy was a decent substitute, I suppose."

They both grinned briefly at the recollection. Remus had certainly been…inventive.

"So I take it you're asking why I helped with one killing and am actively preventing another?"

Remus nodded.

"Well, I honestly am not sure I could say," Harry said with a sigh. "I think maybe because with Umbridge it is about the things shemightdo. She's done a great many terrible things already, of course, but with Pettigrew, it was about revenge, plain and simple. For myself, I suppose, and for Ivy, but mostly for Sirius. I got in the way of his revenge in one lifetime, and maybe I'm just jaded now, but I couldn't see a good reason to stand between Sirius and Pettigrew this time, do you understand? And with Umbridge, well, she hasn't done anything yet that I could claim wanting revenge for. I'd like to prevent her from doing any of those things in the future, obviously, and from continuing in what she's been doing now, but killing can't possibly be the only answer to that, can it?"

Remus nodded but didn't say anything, instead letting the two of them sit in silence for a moment before finally responding with, "You're nothing like Voldemort, Harry."

"What?" Harry said quickly, feeling a bit of mental whiplash at the moment. This conversation was really not what he was expecting when Remus walked in looking like an awkward fifteen-year-old who had accidentally just kicked a puppy. He was also not quite sure wherethatimagery came from, but the mind does funny things when on overdrive.

"I'm just saying, you're not a dark lord. Or not a bad one, at any rate."

"Really not helping, Moony."

"Well, obviously your friend wouldn't have put together a guide to becoming a dark lord if she thought you were going to do a poor job of it."

"I'm not sure that's what Hermione meant…"

"What Imean, is that you care, and you're trying. You're trying to do good, tobegood, and that's what matters, right?"

Harry found he did not have an easy answer for that.

July 15, 1994

"You're attracting Wrackspurts like liver attracts Thestrals."

"That's a horrifying thing to be compared to." Luna looked entirely unapologetic and Harry sighed. "I suppose I am."

"Any reason in particular?"

Harry relaxed in his seat, enjoying the comfortable silence as he sought to put his thoughts in order.

"Am I a good person?" he asked finally.

"Yes," came the near-immediate response.

"And is that enough?"

They sat together in another moment companionable silence.

"Am I a dark lord?"

Luna thought it over for a moment, before shaking her head. "Not by most definitions, no."

"And by yours?"

"Not entirely."

Harry nodded. "I'm just afraid that I'm going to be," he said, his voice gaining a greater hint of anxiousness. "Or that I am, I don't know. Voldemort, Grindelwald… even Dumbledore, for that matter… They achieved positions of power and used that to get their way. Is that not what I'm doing?"

"I suppose that's one way of looking at it."

"Is there another way?" Harry practically choked out, "Because if there is, I'd really like to hear it."

Luna turned his face until he was looking her in the eyes. "You are not them. You are Harry Potter, Henry Peverell, and you make your own choices. You are not trying to control the world or gain more power, you are trying to protect those you care about."

Harry let himself lean in slightly to her touch. "I feel like I have no right doing what I am, making these choices, but…"

"But you have to try?"

"Exactly," he said with a minuscule smile. "That firmly-ingrained people-saving thing."

Luna laughed softly beside him.

"Does wanting to protect Ivy, everyone… Is that enough? Does that give me a right to keep doing this?" A vague summary, but one that was understood nonetheless.

"Perhaps not," Luna said. "But what right have any of us to do anything at all?"

"I thought you were supposed to help the Wrackspurts go away?"

Luna made a "who me?" gesture and said, "I simply informed you they were there."

July 16, 1994

"So, you're having a crisis. You know I have a few plans for taking over the world if you want. Entirely theoretical, of course."

"Thank you for that, Ivy. There goes my plausible deniability."

"You're welcome. Now, crisis?"

"You do understand I'm not actually trying to take over the world, right?"

"Well, I should hope not. If so you're doing a terrible job of it."

With that Ivy hopped off the stool and went out the backdoor, hopefully to go torment Barty or something. Strangely, Harry felt a little better.

"Do you think it's really as simple as making good choices?"

Remus didn't need to ask what brought this on, seeing as he was only here because Luna told him he and Harry could have their crises together like the friends they were. How that translated into them watching Ivy shoot brightly colored paint spells at Barty, paint already covering her clothes and the few tufts of fur on her arms and neck… Well, there were worse ways to experience an internal crisis.

"Maybe, maybe not," Remus answered vaguely, perhaps a little too caught up in watching Barty squeal as a bright green patch appeared on his calf.

"I mean, Dumbledore told me I wasn't like Voldemort because I chose differently, but that's not really my best gauge of ethical behavior now."

Remus huffed a chuckle. "He told you that when you were twelve, about something that was hardly a choice at all, let alone a marking of right or wrong."

Harry snorted. "I suppose that's true."

"So, crisis averted?"

"For now," Harry said with a slight grin. "How's your crisis going?"

"Well the wedding was a little awkward, but I haven't seen Dora since and it's honestly not that bad. We're all adults, and it's not like…"

"Wait, Dora?Tonks? What's going on there? Why is it a crisis?"

Remus banked a couple of times. "We…broke up?"

"YouWHAT?"

"Er, sorry?"

Remus didn't catch much of Harry's mumbling, werewolf senses or not, but he did hear the word "godson" in there and winced just a bit. He should have known Harry was hoping for that…

"That's a terrible difference to have between worlds, but I suppose not everything can be the same and…"

"Harry?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

Harry huffed. "Nothing to be sorry for, Remus."

"Just out of curiosity, whatdidyou think my crisis was about?"

July 19, 1994

To be entirely fair, Harry had tried, he really had. He had been admittedly somewhat laid back in the whole "destroy Umbridge" thing, considering what he could have been doing. She was stillbreathing, after all, and he was trying so hard not to be a dark lord.

But seeing a pair of dementors in his backyard?

Alright, so maybe he snapped just a bit.

Perhaps not his finest moment, but then again he did feel rather justified in his response.

"You mean to tell me that these are…"

"Dementors? Yes. Two of them. I apologize for their mangled state," Harry said, without particularly meaning it, "But I didn't appreciate them loitering about mygarden."

He felt a little bad for showing up at Madam Bones' office with yet another disaster-in-paperwork-about-to-happen, but at the same time she was a competent woman and by this time tomorrow he should have all the evidence he needed compiled and ready for her perusal. Honestly, it could have been worse.

Amelia sighed, and just barely resisted the urge to rub her temples. There was always going to be something, but did it have to bethis?

"And what else you can tell me about the incident? Were there any others present?"

"Yes. Apart from myself, my wife, my daughter, Mr. Parry, and Neville Longbottom were also there."

Amelia winced at how protective Lord Peverell was with his adopted daughter, and although she had the feeling Lady Peverell could defend herself quite well, his protective instincts no doubt extended to her as well. And Augusta's only grandchild? Well, hopefully, the Dowager Lady Longbottom would find the efforts of the DMLE sufficient, because Merlin help them all if she didn't.

"Also, it still needs a little work, but by this time tomorrow I will have all the evidence I have sent to you."

"All the evidence?" She had to ask, even if she really didn't want to.

"Yes. It seems a certain undersecretary did not appreciate being accused of wrongdoing and decided to take care of it."

Amelia bit back a groan. She was a professional. She could handle this. "You're sure? You have proof?"

"Plenty."

There was no doubt in her mind that the rumors of Lord Peverell-Slytherin being exceptionally friendly with the goblin nation were true because there was no way anyone could grin like that and not be.

"Who's got the Fairclough file?"

"Here," Percy said, levitating the file over to Sebastian Bromford who had taken charge of the entire evidence assembly operation.

"Good. The Thorburn one?"

Lupin tossed the file in question to their temporary leader. "Dunstan isn't involved in this, right?"

Bromford waved him off. "Not at all. He never liked that cousin anyway."

A head poked through the doorway. "You boys need any snacks?"

"No thank you, Mrs. Holmwood," several voices answered in unison.

"Oh, Percy, what are you doing here?"

"It's an excellent chance to understand the legal process, Mrs. Holmwood," Percy replied, because sure, let's go with that, shall we.

"Oh well isn't that just so thoughtful of you to help out? And call me Elizabeth, dear."

Percy would most certainly not be doing that. Give Bridget more material to enact her slow, torturous killing? Not bloody likely. He still had no idea how she had gained access to restricted ministry archives, but so long as she chose to use her powers for good and not for assisting Ivy in any one of those "theoretical" plans he would let it be. Still didn't mean he was going to give her anything else to torment him with. Hopefully, when she was back at Hogwarts she would have less time to owl him all her latest "findings."

"Well, that's going to keep you busy for a while."

"Thank you, Alastor. I had absolutely no idea," Amelia deadpanned.

Moody just chuckled. "It'll be good for the trainees to get a little evidence processing in."

"Alittle? Thanks to Peverell's astonishing evidence collection prowess that I'm really hoping I don't have to end up looking into too much, I have ninetyseparateinvestigations I have to open up, not including the suit against Umbridge which was the reason for all this in the first place," she said, waving her hand around.

"Have you thought about recruiting him?"

Amelia groaned. "I asked him if he would ever consider running for office. Looked like a frightened rabbit at that, so no, I don't think that will work."

Moody huffed another laugh. "So what are you going to do?"

"Not look a gift horse in the mouth?"

"Unless it's made of wood."

"You think he has an agenda?"

"Everyone has an agenda."

Amelia could just tell he was just barely not rolling his eyes. "Let me guess. Constant vigilance?"

Moody's grin was something from many a criminal's nightmares. "Precisely."

"You sure I can't convince you to stay?"

Moody snorted and bit out a quick "no." "But you're more than capable of handling this. You don't need some old windbag like me around."

Amelia rolled her eyes fondly at that. "And what about Peverell?"

She watched as he took a moment to contemplate his answer.

"I always urge caution, you know that. But from what I've seen you don't have too much reason for concern at the moment. He's done quite a bit of good, and he's managed to tone down a lot of the purist vitriol. He's made it clear he doesn't agree with the supremacist views, yet has managed to get some of the hardliners onto his side. Even those who don't agree with him keep their mouths shut around him. He's got some of the most brilliant politicians on his side, including some from every major faction. Can you think of anyone else who would have gotten Malfoy, Greengrass, Longbottom, and Brown all together without blood spilling?"

It was a rhetorical question because no, certainly not.

"And Deverill? Magnus may be relatively harmless politically, and he isn't known for being a hardliner, but anything he hears gets circled around faster than whatever Skeeter can turn out. Besides, whatever lack of political ingenuity he lacks is more than made up for in his sons. They may be young but I have no doubt they will prove themselves major figures in the future."

"So your overall assessment?"

"Intriguing, potential, go in with one eye open," he answered, tapping his magical eye.

"I'm afraid I don't have one of those," Amelia teased.

"Well, you office types…"

She matched his grin. No one who had ever trained under Mad-Eye Moody was going to be accused of that in earnest.

July 28, 1994

"Cheers."

Harry raised his bottle in salute before tipping it back and chugging most of it in one go.

He spied an uncomfortable-looking Percy with a bottle in hand out of the corner of his eye and a half-second later caught it as it came whizzing over to him. Wandless magic was helpful like that.

"Stop giving drinks to the underaged," he yelled out.

"He's not underaged," Barty yelled back, because of course it had been Barty.

"He is for three and half more weeks," Harry argued back.

Percy looked surprised, but whether it was Harry remembering his birthday or not letting him have the drink he wasn't sure, and honestly, after the day he had had putting the final nails in Umbridge's coffin (a metaphorical one,Barty), it didn't matter. Ivy had sort of adopted Percy which meant Percy was sort of his kid, which meant he was sort of the parental figure in this situation, and that's what parents did. Both things really; remembering birthdays and not giving vodka to seventeen-year-olds.

"But he helped take down Umbridge," Barty whined. Yes, genuinely whined. Harry claimed no responsibility for however Barty felt in the morning.

"So make him a cake."

Barty's face lit up like that was the best idea ever and Harry's sense of dread chose that moment to manifest itself.

"No, no, donotgo in the ."

"So, we did it."

"Mmhmm."

"Umbridge is out."

"Yep."

"So what's next on the list?"

Harry shot a glare at Remus, who, as always, remained unperturbed.

July 29, 1994

"Ah, Lord Peverell, thank you so much for meeting with me."

Harry shook the Minister's hand, and if he shook it with abitmore force than strictly necessary, well, he was positive most people didn't enjoy their breakfast being interrupted by an urgent owl from the Minister's office. He knew what this was most likely about, and he was already wishing he had just said no.

"Oh, and Lucius. Come in, come in."

Well, at least he wasn't suffering alone.

"Now then, can I get you anything? Tea?"

Both Harry and Lucius answered in the negative.

"Ah, well…"

Madam Bones came in just then, giving Harry a twinge of hope that perhaps the meeting wouldn't be as awful as previously expected. Lucius might have a clever way to get the Minister to lay off, but Madam Bones would cut right to the chase. That's what she had spent the entirety of yesterday's session doing, at least. Harry would treasure the looks of pain and discomfort from those bothered by the head of the DMLE's bluntness for years to come.

"Well, now that we are all here," the Minister began, "I know each of you played a great part in uncovering the shocking and extensive fraud committed by someone this office had once so mistakenly trusted."

Ah. Attempting to distance himself from Umbridge and pretend that literally anyone other than himself had ever fully liked or trusted her. How terribly not shocking. It was almost as if he could have predicted this exact scenario.

He also wondered why his presence was necessary. The Minister had most likely hoped for some encouraging sign or indication that Harry was not about to turn on him as well, but Harry was having too much fun making the Minister squirm a bit in his seat. Did that make him a bad person? To be fair, Fudge was the one who had hired Umbridge in the first place, so a little squirming could hardly be considered cruel and unusual punishment.

Harry concluded that he was on the safe side of ethics for this one.

As assuming as it was to watch Fudge squirm slightly at Harry's carefully controlled neutral-face-of-mild-disinterest, it was at least equally if not more amusing to watch Lucius and Madam Bones handle the situation so… Diplomatically was one word that came to mind, but the subtle insults that Lucius sent Fudge's way were a thing of unparalleled beauty, and Madam Bones seemed quite capable of telling the Minister he was being an idiot in all sorts of seemingly polite ways.

He also noticed that Lucius didn't mention his previous, er,encouragement packages, and that Bones certainly caught on, though she too kept silent on the matter. Hopefully, Lucius had had enough sense to stop such bribery attempts before now, but Harry wasn't going to be the one to bring it up.

"…such a vocal supporter. I'm sure you are well aware of the need to reevaluate the policies and procedures of this office to ensure nothing like this is allowed to happen again."

Lucius was such a beautiful hypocrite. And root out all corruption in the Ministry? Well, perhaps if they convinced Madam Bones to run for Minister…

The current Minister, who Harry doubted was going to be capable of much at this point, seemed to be eagerly agreeing to all of Lucius's remarks about being careful.

Bones had made similar comments over the course of the meeting, stressing that continued cooperation with the Auror's office would go a long way to ensuring this turn out as favorably as possible for Fudge. Granted, it was most likely a scale between getting kicked out tomorrow and actually lasting through the end of his term, but again, Harry was not going to be the one to bring that up, instead feeling rather comfortable in his continued silence. He also idly wondered how many other high-ranking members of the Ministry were about to be investigated, specifically those closely associated with the Minister's office, sparing a brief thought of gratitude that he was not the person who had to deal with it.

Harry managed to make it through the entire meeting only saying perhaps a dozen or so words altogether. Quite an accomplishment, that.

Of course, now Madam Bones was giving him a look that clearly meant she wanted to have a word.

Lucius too received a look, and a moment later he found himself in yet another office, sitting down for yet another meeting. Hopefully, this one wouldn't last as long.

"Hypothetically speaking," Madam Bones began.

Harry did not love that beginning.

"If an investigation were to occur, specifically relating to fraud and corruption within the Minister's office, say, the taking of bribes, for example," she continued, with a wave of a hand as if it were an idea that had just suddenly popped into her head and not something that she was one step away from interrogating a certain blond wizard about, "would I find anything of concern in, say, oh, I don't know, the past year?"

Harry applauded Lucius's ability to keep a straight face while answering, "Nothing I am aware of."

"And if I were to look further back?"

Harry could almost swear he saw the faintest of smirks on her face.

"I am sure there is nothing unduly concerning that would come up in such an investigation."

Harry wondered if what Lucius really meant by that was "so maybe I did it but so did everyone else." Not a great defense but probably true nonetheless. At least it appeared Lucius had stopped, and that was good, right?

A few minutes later as they walked out, Harry could hardly control his own smirk at Lucius's barely perceptible discomfort. What a great ending to this little outing.

July 31, 1994

Harry rapped on Ivy's door.

"Are you up?" he called out.

There was no response.

"Ivy?"

Still nothing.

"Happy Birthday, Ives," he said, "I made breakfast."

Still nothing.

Carefully he opened the door and poked his head in, but the bed was empty. Had he missed her getting up already? A quick spell showed that no, she was in her room still, but he didn't see anyone. And when had she brought home a new…

Oh.

Oh.

"Er, Ives? That you?"

Two seconds later he had his arms full of very excited…was that a…

Oh, they were never going to hear the end of this.

§Sshe ssmellss sstrange.§

§Sshe'ss changed but sshe will change back,§Harry assured Tiger.

§Iss there sstill room for me?§

§Ssure. Sshe'ss not that ssmall.§

With that Tiger slithered dutifully up onto Ivy's back. Harry felt he really ought to take a picture or something. It could go on a poster for inter-house relations at Hogwarts, and since Ivy was already apparently the poster child for that, well, it seemed fitting.

"I thought you had to be something native to Britain," Draco began. "Happy Birthday by the way."

Ivy just shrugged. Probably. It was a little hard to tell what with the fur and the teeth and all that, but Harry had the idea that's what she was going for. Now if he could just convince her to turn back, since she wasn't lettinghimdo anything about it.

"But thisisIvy we're talking about," Neville argued. "And I'm not sure that's an actual rule or whatever. Maybe just more of a commonality?"

"And is that even really a badger?" Draco asked with a slight tint of incredulousness in his voice.

"Does it matter?"

"I'm just saying. She obviously is going to be lauded as the second coming of Hufflepuff or some other such nonsense, but she's not a real badger, is she?"

"You take that back," a suddenly transformed Ivy shouted. "Honey badgers are real."

"Yes, but do they actually count asbadgers?" Draco argued.

"Well…" Neville began, before closing his mouth as quickly as he had opened it. Ivy's glare might have had something to do with that.

"Honey badgers have been known to take on lions," baby-Luna said. Harry had to make some sort of distinction and that worked as well as any.

Draco's eye twitched. "You know, that explains so much."

Harry agreed. Small, happily taking on things far bigger, an affinity for sweet things…

"You know, I told the hat I belonged in Hufflepuff, but did he listen?No. But I knew it! I knew I was meant to be a Hufflepuff, and I'm going to tell him so."

Harry rubbed his eyes. This was going to be a long month before school. "Ivy, please don't steal the sorting hat."

Ivy looked affronted. "I'll put itback."

"Fred, my wonderful almost-minion. I have a proposal."

Fred's face lit up with mischievous anticipation and George leaned in along with his twin.

"We're going to borrow the sorting hat when we get back to school."

George wondered when and how he had become the responsible one out of the lot. It was wrong, and someone needed to take it back.

"I can't believe you."

"Sorry."

"Why didn't you justtell me?"

"Sorry I didn't tell you."

"I mean, why would you go through thatagain? It was bad enough once! Why would you subject yourself to that kind of torture a second,completely unnecessarytime?"

"I…didn't want you to feel left out and I felt bad that I had done it before I knew for sure you were going to do it too?"

Draco sighed. "I can't believe you went through leaf torture for me."

"It really wasn't that bad," Ivy said with a laugh.

"It was horrible and nothing you say will convince me otherwise. Isuffered, Ivy. I can't believe you did it a second time."

"Well, you could always do it again too if it would make you feel better."

Draco's squawk of protest left everyone in the immediate vicinity with no doubt that Draco would not, in fact, be doing that.

August 4, 1994

Sirius stepped through the floo into Harry and Luna's home for the first time as a married man, whistling as he went. The Seychelles were absolutely lovely and the cloudy weather back in Britain was in no way going to diminish his sunny mood.

Strolling into the kitchen where he knew everyone would most likely be at this time of day, he asked, "So, what did I miss?"