Amelia couldn't believe the sheer stupidity she was dealing with minister and his cronies had somehow managed to prevent the underage magic charge from being thrown out. Now they were making this poor girl go through a court trial to prove her innocence. The mockery of justice made her weep.
She found the most bloodthirsty barrister she knew of...Potter was more than happy to pay whatever price it took to not only clear her name, but insure that she get something out of this farce.
Fortunately for Potter, the barrister also happened to be her cousin.
"So... you're the next head of the Black family," said Andromeda.
Rowan blinked.
"I thought Sirius was the next head."
"He was adopted by the Potters. Grandfather only tolerated his appointment of you as the next head on the condition you weren't completely useless," said Andromeda dryly. "That and he wasn't pleased at the signs of mental instability that was present in the official line. You're still a Black through your father so you were acceptable."
"Thanks, I guess?" said Rowan.
"Now, what's this about an underage magic charge?" asked Andromeda. Amelia showed her the evidence, and the parchment that stated that it was originally revoked due to their investigation on the matter, but that the minister had forced it to be reopened due to 'new evidence' he refused to show.
The former Black snorted derisively at this farce. The minister had buggered up and he didn't even seem to realize how much hot water he was about to be in.
The three women got to work. Amelia only gave Andromeda the 'official stance' of the ministry regarding certain matters, but for the most part avoided the room so anything Rowan told Andromeda would fall under client privilege.
Andromeda was going to skin every fool who had helped in the matter alive, and Amelia would make sure they didn't slip out of it.
Rowan never did mention the hammer. She didn't see the point of it, as it was just a magical weapon.
The day of the trial arrived and Andromeda made sure they arrived extra early. A good thing too...the minister attempted to have her cousin lose by default for not showing up.
Andromeda's smile was about as nice as a shark as they walked into the courtroom. This was not going to end well for the idiots trying to blindside the next head of her family.
Two hours later...
Fudge looked particularly pale when the court ended. Not only had the case been thrown out due to the fact that the 'evidence' he claimed existed being nonexistent, but none of his supporters were particularly pleased when Andromeda pointed out that if he could do this to a half-blood heir of two ancient and noble families, nothing stopped him from going after their heirs on trumped up charges as well.
More importantly she pointed out that when her 'client' said that she had seen Voldemort at the end of the tournament, it was not because she honestly believed that was who the killer was...just that it was who the killer "claimed" he was and she had no evidence to dispute this fact as there were obviously no photos of the Dark Lord in Hogwarts and she was far too young to remember what his face looked like the night he attacked. That was a far more plausible explanation that the Wizangamot could believe, as opposed to the horrifying chance that the Dark Lord had found a way to return.
While it wouldn't completely repair the damage to her reputation or credibility, it did mitigate the worst of it. The fact she had never had a proper interview with a reporter outside Skeeter's ambushes on her helped considerably, since it showed she wasn't a braggart like the minister claimed.
As it was, Andromeda was able to argue for an alternative solution to prevent the Minister or his cronies from harassing the young witch a second time over frivolous charges...register Rowan as an adult witch.
Amelia promptly took over at that point, due to the fact the minister had been rendered speechless and offered a counter offer. If Rowan could pass the majority of her OWL's with an Acceptable or higher, then the Ministry would recognize her as a fully mature witch capable of handling her own affairs and not as a minor.
Rowan did qualify for this under several conditions. One, she was an orphan of an established pure blood line and the only heir with no adult relatives to take over as head. Two, she was female and of childbearing age. Three, she had already survived a trial only permitted to adult witches and wizards and won.
It was all rather archaic, but Rowan wasn't going to argue if it meant she never had to deal with the Dursleys again and could legitimately live on her own. If all she had to do was pass her OWL's, then she'd study her arse off and bugger any adventures that Dumbledore tried to nudge her towards.
The real entertainment came when they left the courtroom though. Upon registering the presence of Lucius Malfoy, Andromeda gained a dark smirk. She never did like her brother-in-law.
"Well, well, well...Patronus Potter," sneered Lucius. "So Dumbledore's Golden Girl flaunts the rules again."
Before Rowan could say anything, Andromeda stepped in. Lucius blinked in surprise, not expecting his wife's older sister to be there.
"Hello, Lucius," said Andromeda pleasantly, her eyes glinting with malice.
"Andromeda," he said calmly, though he was clearly not happy to see her there at all. "I was unaware you were part of the Wizangamot."
"By happy chance, young Ms. Black here asked for my assistance in this trifling matter," said Andromeda, putting emphasis on the surname.
Considering the Potter name was in utter shambles thanks to Dumbledore, Andromeda had...with Rowan's permission once it was explained to her what it would mean...legally changed her cousin's name to Black. For all intents and purposes the Potter line was dead until Rowan produced an heir that had the ability to bring it out of the muck.
While the Black's reputation wasn't as clean as the Potter, it still held far more sway over the more traditional families...and more importantly, Rowan wouldn't be the sole surviving member of it.
Rowan mostly agreed because if she took the Black surname, then it meant she could legally bring Andromeda to act as her 'guardian' until she passed her exams. Next time she ended up in the hospital wing due to her 'misadventures', she would have Andromeda there demanding answers as to why she was there for so long, why the teachers who were supposed to be responsible for her safety failed to protect her, and more importantly would ask the hard questions about the safety of the school that had somehow been ignored for far too long.
Rowan planned to visit the school nurse to insure Madam Pomphrey knew of the change and that she would follow proper protocol. McGonagall was utterly useless... Dumbledore had shoved far too many responsibilities on her, and whenever she looked at Rowan, she only saw James or Lily.
If changing her name meant she finally had an adult who was purely on her side and didn't see her parents every time she looked at her, then she'd happily change the name.
Rowan knew that she was better off remaining silent and listening to Andromeda rip Lucius apart on her behalf. It was rather enlightening, overall.
The real show began when they arrived up at the Atrium.
A woman with bright pink hair approached them, then did a major doubletake when she saw Andromeda.
"Mum? What are you doing here?"
"Nymphdora," she said calmly.
"Dear Merlin, why on earth did you inflict a name like that on someone?" said Rowan.
"It is a perfectly acceptable name," said Andromeda with a sniff. "And why would my presence with the future head of our house matter?"
"Dumbledore wants me to relocate Rowan someplace safer."
"Absolutely not," said Andromeda with zero hesitation. "Not when his idea of protection involves leaving the next head of the family with people who openly hate magic and treat them like a house elf."
The other woman winced.
"Sirius will be there," she offered quietly.
"If my dear cousin wishes to see his goddaughter, then he can arrange for a private meeting with Madam Bones to clear his name and submit to mind healers for the damage by the dementors," said Andromeda harshly. "His brash behavior has cost us enough already...he needs to take responsibility and act like a bloody adult."
Andromeda briskly grabbed Rowan's arm and side along apparated before her daughter could respond.
While Rowan had stayed in Madam Bones' manor during the trial, Andromeda had helped her acquire a small flat in London close enough to a smaller magical alley that had access to Diagon but catered to the muggleborns. It was less popular than the alley she was familiar with, but the prices were far more reasonable and the items more interesting.
One of the first things Andromeda did was help her acquire a new wardrobe as her current one was little more than rags. From there she helped the young woman set up a system that would allow her to live mostly by herself with minimal adult supervision.
Rowan all too happily crashed onto her bed the second she arrived. Andromeda let her, as they had woken obscenely early, and she still had paperwork to go through.
Several hours later Rowan woke up and was ravenous. Andromeda had already brought back food, and allowed Rowan to eat at her own pace.
Unnoticed by Rowan, Andromeda kept slipping food onto the girl's plate as she was far too thin for her age. She looked thirteen instead of the fifteen she was able to become.
What really angered her was the fact that Rowan didn't even consider her birthday worth celebrating. The expression on her face during the shopping trip had been enlightening in all the wrong ways. Especially the way she kept going for the least expensive options she could, and not because she was miserly.
Andromeda could only curse Dumbledore in her head, as it was his incompetence that caused this travesty. At least she had made some headway in regards to friends.
While the loyalty of Granger and Weasley was commendable, the sheer lack of social interaction Rowan had with her peers was ridiculous. As a Black, certain standards had to be kept and among them was a proper social network of peers.
Amelia was also highly concerned about the way Rowan seemed to shirk from physical touch and seemed to treat kindness with shock. It didn't paint a happy picture of her childhood, and it had taken careful coaxing for the girl to even open up about her nightmares.
It was even more difficult for her to get the girl to open up about what really happened the night Diggory died. She insured Susan and Hannah were present, and that they saw the pensieve memories themselves to verify she wasn't lying.
While they admitted shame over their behavior last year, what happened to Diggory wasn't entirely Rowan's fault.
It was Dumbledore's.
Either way they were planning a small party for Rowan, where she would be properly introduced to people her own age without her 'friends' acting as a buffer...or a stone wall.
Certain people would not be invited for obvious reasons. Andromeda did want to find out the source of Rowan's dislike of Draco, if only because they were family and she wanted to see for herself how badly Lucius had bungled raising his heir.
The birthday party was bigger than she was used to and it felt incredibly awkward actually talking to others her own age. Susan and Hannah were nice enough to act as a slight buffer, but they didn't try to shield her from interacting with people in the least.
Rowan only relaxed when Hedwig took matters into her own hands...er, claws, and settled onto her shoulder. Having her owl there helped to anchor her just a bit, and no one questioned it in the least. Hedwig was a rather impressive specimen after all, and it opened up a line of conversation that Rowan at least felt comfortable talking about.
At the very least she came out with contacts from other houses, which included a rather amusing Ravenclaw by the name of Luna. Rowan had hit it off with the odd blond almost instantly and Luna seemed to thrive under the positive attention.
Unnoticed, Amelia and Andromeda took note that Rowan seemed to open up more when she had someone or something to dote on and take attention off herself. It seemed their best course of action was to nudge Lovegood together with Rowan. While she was odd, she was also socially acceptable to act as a lady in waiting or possibly even Rowan's Right Hand if trained up properly.
The real trick would be testing to see how Rowan felt about the matter.