September 9, 1994

"Welcome, welcome. Now, before we get started, I of course want to extend another warm welcome to our newest colleagues. I hope these first few days of classes have gone well for the both of you. Now…"

"Yes, about that, Albus," Minerva said, cutting the headmaster off. "I, for one, would like to know just what possessed you to demonstrate the Unforgivables in front of a class full offourth-years."

Barty froze at that, just barely, but it was there. Then he saw that her narrowed eyes were not, in fact, directed at him, but towards Moody. The real Moody, whom he wasnotimpersonating. The real Moody, who had also demonstrated the Unforgiveables to the fourth years. Say what you will about insane other him, but Merlin he had some bloody brilliant acting skills.

The headmaster opened his mouth, probably to defend the ex-auror's less than applauded curriculum choices, but Minerva cut him off with a glare.

Barty was liking her more and more by the minute.

"Practical demonstration. Let them know what they're up against. Can't fight it if you don't know it."

Personally, Barty agreed with Moody's reasoning, though he was gladhewasn't the one that was going to have to deal with the potential fallout.

"And did it ever cross your mind that these arechildren?" Minerva continued. "They are not fighting anything."

"Yet," Moody replied succinctly.

Barty could feel the eye twitch about to appear on Minerva's face any minute. He had a sharply honed sensor for such things now.

"And what of their own experiences? Or did you forget how many of your students' lives have been so greatly impacted by those curses?"

"I believe it was rather traumatizing for some of the poor dears," Pomona added with a small shake of her head.

"Merlin's bloody beard, I wasn't demonstrating iton them," Moody grumbled.

Oh. So maybe there was a slight variation to what had transpired.

"And when I do it's only the Imperius, after all."

Then again, maybe not.

"No hope of fighting it if you don't know what it feels like."

Technically true, though Barty knew frommuchexperience how difficult it was to fight off the Imperius at all, ever.

Severus didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Internally, of course. His face remained as perfectly impassive as ever.

Yes, Moody had demonstrated the Unforgivables. Yes, it was possible that it had beenslightlytraumatizing for students who had lost parents to one of the curses, but did the discussion really need to go on for this long? Moody's snort at the implication that some students suffered because their parents had been under the Dark Lord's Imperius during the war had not helped matters any either.

He was surprised that it was Minerva leading the charge against Moody in the instance, though if the reports of Longbottom's reaction to the previous day's lesson were anything to go on, Minerva was feeling a bit protective of her cubs at the moment and only a masochist would fight her now. Though, given Moody's scars…

Severus shuddered at the thought, banishing them from his subconsciousness forever (hopefully). At least his growing headache gave him something else to focus on.

"…that girls and boys are not to be in each others' dorm rooms forany reason."

"…terrorizing other students with their animagus forms still counts…"

"…everything about that is a no…"

"…I don't think points were awarded…"

"…impressive skill…"

"…not awarded for stealth…"

"…breaking in…"

"…not a real bomb…"

"…what, precisely, isconfetti?"

"…get points for well-executed infiltration…"

"…not the bloodypoint, Alastor."

Severus was now the disgruntled owner of a headache the size of Europe.

A quick glance at a smug, proud-looking Barty did not help matters. He should make Barty be a Head of House for a week and see just how proud he was of students' (read: Ivy's) antics after that.

September 10, 1994

"Lord Peverell!"

Harry turned to see Percy walking quickly towards him. He made a quick excuse to Lord Deverill, not entirely sorry about leaving their conversation, and turned to the conversation with better prospects.

"Hello, Percy. What can I do for you?"

"I was about to head over to your house, but since you're still here I thought I might as well just give this to you now."

With that Percy shoved a large folder in front of him.

"Er, thanks," Harry said, mildly perplexed. "What is this exactly?"

"Just a little packet I put together for you. All the information is listed inside."

"Well thanks then," Harry replied, not entirely sure what else to say. "How is the ministry going?"

"Good, good, just fine, yeah. Bromford keeps me busy so there isn't too much time to be bored."

"And that's a good thing?"

"Oh, very. If I were bored I might do something unwise and I would never live it down if Marchand convinced me to join the Aurors."

Well, there was plenty to unpack from that sentence, let alone the still mysterious packet.

Percy didn't seem interested in extending their tête-à-tête further, however, so Harry was soon left to his own thoughts and musings on one Percival Ignatius Weasley. Really, they were all probably just lucky that Percy's ambitions lay in the direction of positions such as Minister or Supreme Mugwump rather than tyrannical dictator.

Opening Percy's packet upon his arrival home did nothing to dissuade Harry of the notion that should Percy Weasley ever decide taking over the world was a better use of his time, the wizarding world really wouldn't stand a chance.

Legal Methods and Loopholes for Effectively Completing a Takeover of Magical Britainwas the title he was greeted with on the first page.

"The similarities to The Book are eerily… Do you think Percy and Hermione would make a good match here?"

"Which one would run for Minister?" Luna asked in all sincerity.

"That could be problematic," Harry conceded. "Perhaps they could take turns?"

"Hermione might not agree to something like that."

"Percy might though, at least the one here. Not sure older Percy would have."

"He does seem to have turned out a bit different, hasn't he," Luna observed. "He was a bit of a prat before."

Luna was so very Luna even as she said that, that Harry burst out laughing, coughing a few times to regain a normal breathing pattern.

September 14, 1994

"Welcome, everyone, to the first official meeting of the Hogwarts Fourth-Years Herbology Club."

Their numbers had certainly grown. Neville hadn't minded when it was just the four of them, but last year had turned out to be enjoyable as well as their numbers had started to increase. This was certainly more people than last year, even, but at least he wasn't the only guy now. Not that he minded being around the girls, but, well…

He was happy to see Ernie and Kevin there too.

"Are there any questions before we get started?" Susan asked, finishing up her introduction speech.

A few hands shot in the air.

"Yes, Ernie?"

"Right, well I just had a question for Neville, is all. So, how exactly did you get Parkinson to go out with you?"

Neville glanced around at the others in the room, hoping for someone to provide an excuse for him not to answer that question.

Everyone's eyes were turned eagerly towards him in ripe anticipation.

The entire House of Hufflepuff was now dead to him.

And yet, despite his best impression of his grandmother, a dozen or so pairs of eyes remained fixed on him.

Neville thought back to the train, to how Pansy had dragged him out of his compartment and then proceeded to inform him that they were now engaging in a fake-dating scheme for the foreseeable future. There was really no way to explain any of that, least of all with maintaining the secrecy Pansy had demanded.

Neville sighed a little sigh. "I'm not sure, to be honest," he said. "It sort of just happened."

"That's so romantic," Megan said in a quiet exhale.

Girls could be strange sometimes.

"Oi, why is Longbottom glaring at us?"

"Oh, Neville disowned all of Hufflepuff today."

"Hewhat?"

"Can you do that?"

"How does that evenwork?"

"What did you lotdo?"

Everyone turned towards Justin at that last question, who had uttered it with such horror in his voice that everyone at the table felt an immediate need to fix whatever problem had caused such a sound.

Justin continued before anyone could answer, however. "Do you know how manyplansthat will ruin?"

Neville gripped his fork a little tighter, scowling slightly at the sight of the Hufflepuffs all whispering amongst themselves. So what if he and Pansy were (fake) dating. Was it really so unbelievable? He wasn'tthatbad. And why did they all have to keep talking about it, anyway?

"Um, mate, you alright there?"

Neville's internal rant was cut off by Ron's question. "What? Oh, yeah. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Because, well, you look ready to bite someone's head off."

Neville sighed. "I'm just tired of everyone talking about Pansy and me." Merlin, did that feel weird to say. "It's not that big of a deal, and what's all the fuss about, anyway?"

Ron shrugged. "Well, you have to admit it's a bit strange."

Neville began to scowl again.

"I mean, I always thought you'd go for Davis or Brocklehurst or something, you know?"

No. Neville did not know. Merlin, this was all so confusing.

September 25, 1994

Harry put the paper down. "Huh. Not bad," he said. "You really think this will work then?"

Luna didn't move her eyes off her very… colorful… project. Harry was going to have to ask what that was after because he honestly had no clue. But Luna did smile, and say, "I know how newspapers work. It will be fine."

Harry chuckled. "Right, no doubting the amazing writer and editor extraordinaire. Sorry, love."

"Forgiven."

"So, er, what is this?"

"Moke research."

"With, um, paper windmills? What do those do?"

"No idea," Luna said, "yet."

"I have no idea what's going on here, but I'm pretty sure this is why you're brilliant."

"You never know what will happen until you try it," was Luna's reply.

September 26, 1994

"I thought we were taking the subtle route for this?" Lucius asked.

"That's what the first one was for," Luna replied.

"You do realize there is a tremendous leap from an article outlining various ancient forms of magical protection to a headline readingLILY POTTER'S ROLE IN THE DEFEAT OF YOU-KNOW-WHO, right?"

"Yes."

"Just making sure," Lucius said, with a sigh.

October 5, 1994

"Your wife is terrifying and please, I beg of you, never let me get on her bad side."

"Lucius, are you sure you're alright?" Harry asked, with a bit of concern. He knew Lucius was somewhat wary of Luna for some unknown reason, but what could have possibly happened to make him say something likethat?

"Oh,Iam perfectly fine," Lucius assured him. "Other people, however, are quite liable to be less than fine at the moment. I do not envy them, and I have no wish to eventually become them."

"Did…something happen?" Harry ventured.

Lucius looked at him as if he were being particularly dimwitted at the moment. "I can safely assume you read the articles your wife had a hand in publishing, yes?" He continued without waiting for Harry to respond. "Then you undoubtedly havesomeidea of the havoc she has wreaked in the foundational prejudices of our very society?"

Harry quirked an eyebrow at that. "So you admit those are prejudices then? Not simply facts?"

Lucius waved him off. "Yes, yes, we're all a bunch of bigoted snobs and now I've seen the light and been fully converted to your less murdery approach to overcoming the challenges faced by wizarding try to keep up,my lord."

"Rude."

"AsI was saying," Lucius continued, not acknowledging Harry's irritation at being thus addressed, "your lovely, brilliant, terrifying wife has managed to confront the very cornerstones of blood purist prejudice and rip them from the structure that is pureblood elitism, without the idiots having been aware she was doing it in the first place."

"I'm impressed, Lucius," Harry said with a bit of a smirk. This entire conversation made so much more sense now, and he was enjoying every minute of it. "And how much did all that pain you to say?"

"Your wife is very convincing," Lucius said, only grinding his teeth a little as he did so.

"Indeed," Harry said, a full-on grin spreading over his face.

"And she will no doubt accomplish her goal of convincing remaining blood purists to drop their bigoted views in favor of more conciliatory thinking."

"Oh, that's not her goal," Harry explained lightly. "She said she'd help me, of course, but her goal is to convince Dumbledore to leave Ivy alone."

Lucius sank into a chair, losing whatever pride or adrenaline-filled stamina he had been sporting. "What did I do in a previous life to deserve getting entangled in…this?" he said, gesturing vaguely to what could be considered "everything."

"Well, you did try to kill me."

"It was a rhetorical question, Peverell."

"So you don't want to be part of Luna's attempt to give Dumbledore a chance?"

"I despise every part of what you just said, but to be clear on how much I shall allow myself to despise it, could you please explain what you mean bygive him a chance?"

"Lucius asked me about your plans for Dumbledore today."

"I thought he would. He seems to like you better."

"Only because you terrify him for some reason. Funny how, out of the two of us, you managed to be the scary one in his eyes."

"I certainly didn't try to be."

"Oh, I know. But honestly, I think I love you a bit more for it."

They both laughed a little at that.

"So, what did you tell him?" Luna asked, settling into bed.

"I said you wanted to give Dumbledore a chance to change."

"Everyone deserves a chance, don't you think?"

"I suppose," Harry answered. "And what if he doesn't change?"

"Well that's why it isachance, don't you think? Not a blank cheque to be allowed to meddle in other peoples' lives?"

Harry snorted. "Like I'm doing, you mean?" he said with just a touch of bitterness, as he had yet to come to terms with his entire situation even now.

"If you get too caught up in your own hubris I'm sure I can find some way to knock you back down again," Luna replied as if making a comment about what chores might need doing.

"Sorry to have this conversation over and over."

"It is a difficult question to find an answer for."

Harry nodded in agreement. "But for now, at least, I'm doing well enough?"

Luna nodded in turn. "I would say so, yes."

"And with Dumbledore? If he doesn't leave Ivy alone?"

"You don't have to face him if you don't want to, you know."

"I can't just leave Ivy…" Harry caught on quickly enough. "Oh, you mean you. You would confront him?"

"Everyone deserves a chance, so long as they are not permitted to hurt others in the meantime, but those accustomed to power may not be so willingly accustomed to change. Albus Dumbledore has chosen to believe a particular path of fate is certain, forgetting that Fate is the forest, not a single path through the woods. Perhaps he can be made to see that multiple paths can achieve the same outcome, but it is equally as likely, if not more so, that he will not be willing to give up what he has, in his mind, decided to be the only possible course to take. You lived through and suffered the consequences of his unwillingness to do more than try to manipulate what he believed to be Fate to achieve his desired results once already, and you saved Ivy from suffering more of the same."

"Well just write me a love poem, won't you?" Harry said, soppy grin firmly affixed. "And so now you're going to be my knight in shining armor?"

"I've never worn armor before."

"We can change that."

October 6, 1994

"You sure you don't want to come, love?" Lord Peverell asked.

Lady Peverell shook her head. "You can tell me about it later. I promised Buckbeak I'd take him exploring today."

Lucius just knew that if the rest of Wizarding Britain could see these two, right here, right now, they would feel exactly as he did. Seeing Lord Peverell casually ask his wife if she wanted to join him in striking terror into the hearts of nearly every former Death Eater and acknowledged Dark Lord supporter left outside of Azkaban as if that were a normal post-Wizengamot session activity, or seeing Lady Peverell reply with equal casualness while dressed head to toe in dragonhide armor that she had communicated with a hippogriff to such an extent that they had an arrangement to goexploringtogether, as if, as if…

Harry did not know what Lucius's problem was, but the low mumbling coming from the other man's mouth contained every English curse word Harry knew. Mildly impressive, but whatever was going on it couldn't bethatbad if Lucius hadn't delved into any foreign languages yet.

"By a show of hands, who here believes that those of a particular blood status are inherently superior to others not possessing the same? Honesty, if you please."

Some were obviously wary about answering, not that Harry could blame them, but seeing his lack of reaction to the first few hands that went up, others in the room relaxed and raised their hands as well. There were a good number of hands raised, but not nearly as many as Harry had been expecting.

"Thank you. Now, who here feels that blood status determines magical power?"

Some hands went down, others went up, and Harry hmmed to himself.

He was under no delusions that anything he might say or do here would fundamentally change anyone's mind. The likelihood of that was extremely small, and he would be far more surprised if itdidthan if it didn't. Voldemort's hold wasn't magically (ha) gone just because Harry was here, and bigoted views weren't going to go away overnight. Voldemort may have exploited prejudices, but he hardly created them.

To be fair, many had changed their views, or at least made an effort to do so. Still, people were hardly going to change their minds and deeply seated prejudices just because Harry, no matter how powerful, told them to. Some of them might respect him, fear him even, but he had learned long ago that fear did little to truly change someone's mind, regardless of how it might affect their course of action.

That being said, he was also firmly aware that many sought to use his perceived power for their own gain, or simply because he was viewed as the strongest wizard currently available to follow. He didn't love it, but he wasn't surprised by it either.

"Alright then. Let's talk about fundamental principles of civility and human decency."