stars90 - Thanks! Harry's adopted family continues to grow.

scrappy8 - Harry looks out for his family, blood and not.

GreengrassRebel - Thanks. Yeah, there will be a fair bit of Book 5 from Dora or Siriu's POV. I have a lot of plans for how the adults fuck with Fudge's administartion and attempt to counter Voldemort.

Disappointing - Well, sorry that a note about a small, early change will proliferate made you jump to the conclusion that Cedric would survive and Fudge would be forced to face the truth. I'm honestly not sure how those two go hand in hand. If Harry makes it to the graveyard and is involved in the ritual to revive Voldemort, there's very little to nothing, beyond somehow dragging Voldemort with him back to Hogwarts, that Harry can do to convince Fudge of the truth. Cedric going would definitely result in his death. Sure, I've seen stories where Cedric is stunned and hidden or frozen and somehow survives, but for the most part, those aren't very realistic at all. Either Cedric never touches the Cup, and thus cannot help to add his testimony to make Fudge understand, or he does touch the cup and dies.

My thought on the trap wasn't that Harry wouldn't be willing to touch the Cup. It's that he wanted to ensure everyone nearby, every possible witness was brought into the Cup. Plus, Crouch would think the worst of people, so he'd assume that any Champions that made it that far would be fighting each other to claim the victory, the glory, the championship. He wanted to ensure that even if they were dueling each other, physically brawling or incapacitated in any way, the Cup would pull people in so his Master could be resurrected.

I really wasn't sure about killing Cedric or not. I did feel a Champion needed to die for Harry's growth, and it just happens that I have plans for Fleur and Krum, so Cedric was my choice. In canon, Harry makes it through the Tournament and does well based on a lot of luck, some skill, but still through the machinations of Crouch. If it wasn't for Crouch, Harry would have crashed and burned in both the First and Second Tasks. In my story, I wanted Harry to be able to get through the Tournament based on his own abilities. Sure, aided by his friends, but still his abilities. I didn't want Harry's growth to be at the other champions' expense. They were all some of the best of their generation and so I felt like they needed to perform very well. It's why I tried to balance them all winning or placing differently in the various Tasks. To me, that also included the last Task. Crouch was able to affect one champion to try and sabotage another, which he did in canon. Cedric only made it to the end because of his skill. For this story, the same is true. Cedric made it to the end because he was extremely talented and a very capable wizard. However, even the best can fall, and I wanted Harry to see that.

Harry hasn't really seen death. Sure, he saw the grims' deaths, but he didn't shrug it off because they are worth less. He shrugged them off because he knows something about grims that I haven't introduced yet. He is very mature, but I think Cedric's death will hit him in the same way it's hitting you. He will see how it shouldn't have happened, how it didn't need to happen, and now understands far more what Voldemort and his followers are capable of.

As for veritaserum? I don't see why that would help. Veritaserum has its flaws. Sure, it's a very useful potion and it gets results, however it will cause a person to tell what they believe is the truth. Fudge would simply argue that Harry was batshit crazy, as the newspapers have been suggesting, and that Harry simply believes that Voldemort is back, and others will believe it. Vertaserum would maybe convince some, but not a lot of people want to believe Voldemort is back, and few truly know Harry. There's not a lot of reason to believe a kid who has and reasonable so a lot of trauma, and has been through too much for how old he is. It isn't that far of a stretch to think a normal person in Harry's shoes might have cracked.

Chapter 45 (Year 5)

Dora appeared and she smiled over at Angelina as she released her hold on the girl, as Sirius and Harry apparated in, and Astra appeared out of Harry's shadow.

"Wow," Angelina said, looking at the house, and all around the field that was surrounded by woods.

It really was a beautiful area, and Dora had explored much of the land with Sirius, Remus, and Harry, so she knew there were dozens of other places just as beautiful or even more so, plus Sirius was right. There were plenty of other fields, similar to one they were in, big enough for homes to be put up, and far enough away for privacy. Truthfully, Dora herself was quite interested in making this a family plot of land and building a home for herself . . . and maybe a certain handsome werewolf . . . once Harry had officially moved out onto his own, and didn't need her as a guardian. Then, she'd just keep a room ready for him to visit or stay whenever he wanted. He'd always be welcome in her home.

Though, now that Voldemort had returned, that was likely to be even a longer ways away than before. There was strength in numbers, and while the entire property was protected by wards, the distance could still be a problem if an attack happened and the whole property separated them. It was also an asset for the same reason. Breach the wards in one place and you still have a long journey to reach another area.

Sirius had already confided in her that he had plans to build other houses in some of the other places around the plot of land, mainly to use as safehouses as needed. Even if they found their main home, it wasn't going to be easy to find any other houses that were built, especially if they concealed them in various ways.

"Welcome home," Dora said, smiling widely.

She rather enjoyed knowing that their little makeshift family was growing, even if it was growing in the same strange manner it had started . . . orphans gathering together in friendship and creating family bonds. Now they just had to get one more back into their fold.

"Thank you for letting me stay with you," Angelina said quietly, and Dora shook her head.

"First, you're family to Harry and now to me. It was one hundred percent Harry's idea and insistence, though we would have offered ourselves if we'd known. Our little family is made up of runaways and orphans, self-declared and otherwise. You'll fit in just fine."

"It's kind of nice paying it forward," Sirius answered, and Angelina glanced at him in confusion, and he chuckled. "I ran away when I was sixteen. I ran away and the Potters took me in. It seems to be in their blood to look after those they care about."

Angelina chuckled softly as she glanced at a blushing Harry.

"Now, Harry, how about you give Angelina a tour of the grounds and then the house," Sirius suggested, and Harry nodded and he, Angelina, and Astra went off, with Harry guiding her about their grounds.

It was nearly forty-five minutes before Harry and Angelina had gathered with the adults in the kitchen/dining area after Harry had shown Angelina around the immediate area and shown her around the house, including showing her her room.

"Alright kiddos," Sirius said, as they sat down, it being Remus, Sirius, Dora, Harry and Angelina at the table. "We've got a lot to talk about, what with our family's new situation, our world's new situation, and everything else in between."

"We're going to start with the pressing concern," Dora said, before she turned to Angelina. "Is there anything that you need to recover from Kenneth's house? Is there anything we need to try and get now before he decides to destroy it or get rid of it?"

Angelina shook her head.

"Not really. I generally only received new stuff when he felt like my stuff was showing age, which meant it had to go for appearance's sake. So pretty much everything I own is in my trunk. Nothing of value is left in that house. There's some extra clothes, especially muggle clothes that might have been nice to have, but I doubt we'll be able to get it. I doubt Kenneth would let us in anyway. He only cared about me getting new stuff if my old stuff made him look bad."

"Was it clothes you liked? Clothes you wish you had because of comfort or style? Or clothes you just wish you had because you want to be able to go out into the muggle world or have extra clothes for going out in general?"

"The latter," Angelina admitted. "I don't have much muggle clothes on me, so I'll have to try and get new ones. Though I was thinking about getting a job this summer anyway, so assuming that I can get a job, I'll be able to replace my clothes quickly enough."

Sirius shook his head, and Dora smirked.

"I have no issue with you getting a summer job or spending your money as you wish, though we will probably have to talk about safety concerns with a summer job. I will say, however, that while you are in school, despite being of age, Dora and I are your magical guardians and thus we will provide for you. If you need clothes, we'll go shopping tomorrow and get you outfitted."

Angelina's eyes widened in shock, and Harry hid a grin.

"Y-you are already doing a lot for me," Angelina protested. "You're giving me room and board and letting me get out of a bad situation."

"I believe Harry said it, and I believe Dora said it," Sirius said, giving her a caring smile. "You moved in here because you're now family. I take care of my family. We can have a good old row about room and board when you're graduated and have a good paying job, but I'm not making Dora pay rent, despite her protests. Remus doesn't pay rent, despite his protests, both to him living here and him not paying rent, (Remus sighed at that) and you are certainly not going to pay rent. You'll only pay rent if you wish to move off this property, which is quite big if Harry didn't mention, and move into a flat or house elsewhere. Should you decide you love it in this area, again, this is a large piece of land, and it's for family, so you'll be more than welcome to build a house in one of the other areas on this property that can support a house."

Angelina's eyes bugged out, and Harry snorted in amusement.

"I - I - I mean - I can't - er," Angelina stuttered, and Sirius chuckled.

"You're staying here until you don't want to anymore, and while you're here, you'll let me dote on my new honorary goddaughter," Sirius said, grinning, and Angelina gasped.

"You've been great to Harry over the years, and while I don't know you as well as I would like, I'm hoping we can change that," Dora said brightly. "While you already have a couple adoptive sisters, I'm hoping you could use another one because I would certainly love to have one myself. We've joked about it this year, but now I want it to be official."

Angelina stared at Dora expressively and she nodded slowly.

"Dora has already admitted she might build a house on this property someday," Sirius said, going back to his explanation. "I'm sure that over the course of this summer, Harry can show you all around the woods of this property, or at least a lot of it. I'm not sure even Harry has been to all of it yet, and he's spent a fair amount of time working on his magehood in these woods with Astra. He knows this property the best of any of us though, so I'm sure he can help you figure your way around."

Sirius continued. "There's a lake, a bit aways, but still a fairly nice place to relax and swim, and it has creeks and rivers that flow from it, one not far from here actually. Honestly, I've already talked to a construction company to have a lake house built there for people to just stay a couple days and relax. It's going to be fairly large to support friends and family, but I'm not going to have them start building that place until you all head off to Hogwarts. I'd prefer them to not be there while you're utilizing it, and it'll take them the better part of a school year to build what I want. This land is a protected conservation area, which means that nobody is allowed to cut down all the trees, and with how thick some of this forest is, it's nearly impossible for muggles to build the types of properties that would make this profitable, which made it perfect for us. We can certainly cut down the odd tree for firewood if need be, but there's usually fallen trees around to use instead. Much of this property is forest, but there are plenty of open fields and pastures and there are dozens of hidden, but good sized fields, like the one this house is in, spread throughout the property, some not too far away, others a couple kilometers away."

Angelina gaped in disbelief at what Sirius was saying, and Harry nodded in sympathy.

"It's a very big property," Harry said. "The whole thing is protected by wards, installed by goblins, so we're very protected here from most things, and I've been slowly turning the whole property into hallowed ground which will keep most creatures of darkness away, at least the ones that aren't kept away by our wards, except for those friendly to us, like shadow hounds, cat-siths, thestrals, and moon ravens. It's slow going, since I can't do it for the whole property in one go, so every couple nights I usually go out and push the boundary of my . . . ward, for lack of a better word, out further, increasing the protection and safety within this border even further. It'll take some time, but eventually I hope to have the whole property secured from damn near everything, making it a sacred and holy spot for Hades, Nyx, Thanatos, and Erebus."

"About that," Dora said with a wince. "You won't be able to do that this summer . . . not unless you can do it wandlessly."

Harry frowned in confusion.

"It's a mage thing, so it actually doesn't require me casting any magic, though it is fueled by my core and elemental power, so I won't need my wand, but why couldn't I do it if I did need it?"

Sirius, Dora, and Remus all sighed.

"Fudge revoked your exemption," Sirius said grimly, and Harry sighed a bit mournfully.

"Well, while I'll get stronger with age, and maybe could learn to utilize them even better, I did master all the shadow magic spells, so I don't really need the exemption anymore, but it was nice having it, and I'm sure it saved my life this past year."

"That's a relief," Sirius said and sighed. "Though I'm fairly certain I burned any chance of you getting it back, so for that I am sorry."

"I don't blame you Sirius," Harry said, before he frowned in confusion. "What do you mean you burned any chances of getting it back? Are you talking about what happened right after the task?"

"No," Sirius said with a shake of his head. "Though, let's finish with our first topic before we hit that. Angelina, do you need anything besides clothes? We probably need to go shopping tomorrow anyway. Most of us have been gone for the past couple months and I know Dora and I haven't really got back into a normal rhythm living here again."

"No," Angelina said softly, looking resigned, but happy at the same time. "Clothes are really all I need and . . . well, some potions."

"I've got some extra if you need them," Dora said, and Harry realized what they were talking about, Dora having explained them to him when he first started living with her, "but we can easily pick up more tomorrow. We can also get you some things to decorate your room, if you'd like."

Angelina smiled and nodded before she looked at Sirius and gave him a "go on' gesture.

"Okay then," Sirius said, pulling out a document. "If you sign this, Angelina, Dora and I will officially become your magical guardians for the next year, which basically just means that while you're still in school, should anything happen, we'll be notified, and we'll be allowed to see you. It also allows us to protect you legally from any problems you run into."

Angelina's arm was almost shaky as she took a quill from Sirius and she gave the document a cursory look before she signed, and Dora and Sirius grinned, before Sirius's face became compassionate.

"The next thing to bring up isn't something you need to answer today, but I do want you to think on it," he said, and Angelina frowned, almost apprehensively.

"Do you wish to keep your last name, or would you like to be formally welcomed into either my own or Harry's family as kin?" Sirius asked, and Angelina's eyes widened in shock, once again.

"W-what? W-why do you ask?" she asked bewildered.

"Like I said, I ran off to Harry's dad's place when I was sixteen, and the Potters took me in, and they made me the same offer," Sirius explained. "It's important because while you are an adult, you are also a pureblood woman still in school, one whom your father still can technically arrange a marriage for, and should you refuse him, he can get Ministry sanctions against you since you still use his family name."

"Wait, what?!" Harry said in outrage, and Sirius nodded sadly.

Angelina's eyes widened, with a hint of fear. She'd known about the marriage arrangements, but she'd planned to refuse. She hadn't realized that Ministry sanctions could be placed on her for doing so.

"Pureblood families can arrange those sorts of promises or agreements between their children, male or female, while they are school age, and up to until they turn twenty one. Unless you have other family on your paternal side who could possibly contest your father with familial bonds, then you don't have much of a leg to stand on while you keep your paternal family's last name. In addition, trying to drop your last name to get out of the arrangement will incur heavy fines and possible time in Azkaban. You can drop your name now, before he arranges anything, but you could still incur heavy fines if he sues, and you will find work hard to come by not having a last name. It's a mark of shame in our world. Do you have any other family that could support you, legally?"

Angelina shook her head, looking a bit overwhelmed

"My mother was an only child and her parents died recently. They were older, but I never really liked them anyway. They're just like Kenneth, so they would never let me use their last name. Kenneth's parents are no different, and I've never liked being around them either."

"Wait, why didn't you take the adoption then?" Harry asked Sirius, interjecting. "I thought you hated your family."

Sirius grimaced.

"I do . . . or at least I hate what my family became, hate my parents and my aunt and uncle, but I have always rather enjoyed my ancient family history, and I did have family members I did like. Andy might have been disowned, informally, like I was, but she was still a Black. I had another great aunt and a great uncle that were quite nice, so I didn't really feel like losing my heritage, and the Black name being an Ancient House, has more power than yours, Harry. I stood to lose a lot by joining the Potters, legally, politically, historically, and financially."

Sirius sighed.

"Angelina stands to gain quite a bit by joining your or my family, politically, financially, and legally. She gains protection, and I offer this because she doesn't seem to have ties to her family, and her family isn't an Ancient or Noble House, but her father wants their family to be. This means he might be willing to use some of the very outdated, but still very legal pureblood traditions. It's why I didn't bring up her joining Dora's family. I didn't have to worry as much because all of the families that my parents would have tried to arrange marriages with wouldn't go near me after I publicly dated several of my muggleborn schoolmates. Any marriage to anyone my parents would have approved of on my own would have also been penniless on my part, so most of the upstanding purebloods my parents would have been happy to see me with, even ones I enjoyed, weren't likely to want to marry me."

"Why haven't we talked about this before?" Harry demanded. "Why hasn't Dora been asked to join one of our families if she gains political clout and protection?"

"I'm a halfblood, Harry, and my dad was a muggleborn, so I don't have to worry about the Malfoy's, for instance, arranging something for me," Dora said. "They can't, since my mum was informally disowned and they never welcomed my father's name into the family. I also don't have any other family on my father's side to do so, so there's no real need. However, Sirius did reinstate me in the Black Family, so I do now, on my choice, fall under the Blacks as a branch family, and thus have nearly the same political clout. If Angelina was an orphan by circumstance, she could be adopted into one of your families as kinship, thus keeping her last name and becoming a branch family, like the Witchers do."

Dora sighed

"In addition, I was determined to not want anyone to claim I was using you for my own gain," she said, firmly. "I didn't want you living with me, being my family because of what I could gain. I wanted you because of you, because of what you meant to me. So, I never brought up becoming a branch family to you or becoming family in full, though I guess we could talk about it, if you want."

"Branch families or magical adoptions have some different options for becoming kin," Sirius explained. "There is partial blood adoption, which is what the Witchers do for their branch families, which is part of the reason their power continues to move down through generations even after adoption. If you adopt Dora here into your family, Harry, your kids or grandkids or some other Potter down the line could possibly have her metamorphic abilities, just as her kids could have your parseltongue abilities or the Potter's shitty eyesight."

Harry snorted at the last part.

"The odds of that happening increase with a full blood adoption. There are also differences between a blood adoption as siblings or blood adopting as a parent to a child. This is why every branch family in the Witchers, carries the Witcher last name hyphenated. The partial adoption effectively makes them cousins in blood and genetically, and as an Ancient Family whose family charter made themselves a Clan, all clan members . . . all true family members carry the Witcher last name along with the additive family name. A full blood adoption would genetically and legally make Angelina here, for instance, your sister, daughter, or mother, depending on the ritual and intent. Again, she will receive genetic benefits from your family line as well as possible genetic defects, just as you will receive some from her, and the likelihood of that is almost assured. You won't likely see any real changes to either of you, but again, it will affect your kids, grandkids, and so on, though it's only negative if you both have bad family genes, which certainly doesn't seem to be the case."

"Do you think I should?" Angelina asked quietly.

Sirius shrugged.

"You know your father. Is he likely to arrange a marriage for you?"

"He wanted to," Angelina admitted. "He told me already had a couple potential matches."

"Then, I think you should consider joining mine or Harry's family, unless you really enjoy being Angelina Johnson," Sirius advised.

"Angelina, the choice is yours," Harry said, looking at her reassuringly, before he smiled, "but I certainly would not mind you becoming officially my sister."

"Is Harry affected in anyway, me joining his family?" Angelina asked. "Does he have power over me?"

"As the Head of House Potter, he can legally be bound to any debts that you accrue that you are unable to pay on," Sirius said. "All civil actions against you will be laid upon him as well, because he would be your patron, for all intents and purposes. However, that also means anyone who wants to go after you has to go after House Potter. The same is true to you in regards to him. You would be family, as far as the Ministry and the Goblin Nation are concerned. You would gain access to the Potter Family Vault, have access to the Potter Grimoire, and he would be obligated to assist you in times of hardship as your Head of House unless he banished you. He can help facilitate marriage contracts if you asked for it of him, but could not create one, since he is not your parent. The reverse is also true. You could help facilitate marriage contracts for him, but would not be able to force him into one. Male or female, purebloods are bound to their parents wishes up to a certain age. He also gains protection from others because of you, since he would have a family member to watch over his affairs, should he be unable to. Effectively, you protect each other by joining his family. You also would be able to sit as the representative for the Potter family Wizengamot seat, something that only family, either legally or by blood, can be made representatives for."

Angelina licked her lips nervously, and Harry reached forward and grabbed her hand.

"Angie, don't worry about the legal side of things. I trust you and you trust me, and you know I'd never do anything to hurt you, and I know the same of you. What you should really focus on is whether you want to stay a Johnson or you want to legally become a member of my family or Sirius's," Harry said, trying to dispel her nerves, and Angelina sighed, and a lot of the tension left her body.

"You're right, Harry . . . and I'm beyond grateful for this offer," Angelina smiled. "Let me think about it a bit."

Harry nodded easily. Sirius nodded, his face showing understanding.

"Of course," he said.

"So, does that mean we're ready for your story?" Harry asked Sirius, and Sirius sighed and nodded.

"This whole story goes back to almost a year ago," Sirius said grimly, "when I took over as Head of the House of Black and looked through my father's journal . . ."

(Flashback – 3 days prior)

"Thank you for your generous donation to my next campaign, Mr. Black," Fudge said stiffly, as Sirius entered the office, and Fudge's politician look faded as his assistant shut the door, leaving just the two of them.

"If that's what it takes to get on your calendar, then so be it," Sirius remarked coolly.

"What is this about, Black?" Fudge asked. "If you think I'm going to give Potter back his exemption so that he can train to compete in tournaments, you've got another –"

"No, this isn't about that," Sirius said, cutting the man off with a glare. "Besides, you know Harry had nothing to do with being in that tournament. Crouch Jr. did. That training we gave him last summer kept him alive."

"And made him feel untouchable, it seems. Perhaps even unbalanced him," Fudge responded, and Sirius bit back his acidic retort that would accomplish nothing but ending their meeting.

"This isn't about Harry," Sirius said shortly. "This is about something else, something that has a larger effect on our world."

Fudge scowled.

"I'm not going to listen to any more of this nonsense about You-Know-Who," he said. "You can take your donation back and –"

"It's not about Voldemort either," Sirius said, and Fudge flinched horribly at the name, but he did seem to ease back on the hostility.

"So you admit that it's all foolishness, that Potter was making it up or shaken from the events?" Fudge said quickly.

"No, I don't, but I'm not here to talk about that," Sirius said. "This is something different. Adjacent to the past with Voldemort (Fudge flinched again), but it has nothing to do with him currently."

Sirius sighed, as Fudge gave him a get on with it gesture.

"You have been notified about the Longbottom's recovery?" Sirius asked, and Fudge nodded with a frown.

"A new experimental cure, I was told," Fudge said, and Sirius grimaced.

"That's true, but there's more to it."

"And why am I finding out about this now?" Fudge asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Because the magic that led to the experimental cure's creation is very dark and shouldn't be known, unless there was a cure," Sirius said, and Fudge's eyes narrowed further.

"Explain."

"When I took over as Head of House, I found my father's journal and the Black Family Grimoire," Sirius explained. "I'm sure you won't be too surprised to know that there is Black Family magic that hasn't been released to the public."

Fudge nodded, knowing exactly how jealously some of the Ancient Houses were with their secrets.

"I'm sure it's also not a surprise, what with my family history, to know that some of it is dark in nature."

Again, Fudge nodded, though his eyes glinted.

Sirius sighed.

"In the journal, my father mentioned using a Black Family ritual, of an extremely dark nature. I found the ritual in the Grimoire, and it does work," Sirius said. "The problem was that it was dark, very dark, and as far as we knew, it was permanent. While I was inclined to release the Black Family magic to the public, I could not release even knowledge of its existence until I knew there was a counter or cure. I do want it released now though, so that the person it was used on can be cured. From there, the counter will be known, but I figure we can classify and slowly destroy the knowledge of how to use the original spell until it's nothing but a myth."

Fudge sat back in his chair.

"What does this ritual do?"

Sirius licked his lips

"It is along the lines of the Imperius Curse, but in some ways it's worse," Sirius said hollowly. "It allows the personality of a person to be overwritten with a desired personality that the castor or castors choose."

Fudge's eyes widened in horror, and Sirius nodded.

"I . . . I couldn't let something like that get out. It's not easy to use, nor can it be done quickly, like the Imperius, but it is permanent, or at least it seems to be. I figured it would be better for such magic to die with me than live on."

"What changed?" Fudge asked, looking more interested in the conversation, now that it was clearly not about Voldemort.

"My father's journal mentioned who it had been used on," Sirius admitted. "It's someone I cared about, and someone who deserves their life back. I didn't even know if it would be possible, so over the past year, I've been working with Dumbledore (Fudge's eyes narrowed again, and he scowled) . . . Listen, I have my own issues with the man, but you can't deny that he is one of the most brilliant minds on the planet," Sirius said, and Fudge nodded in grudging agreement. "I figured he could help me, and if he couldn't, then we'd go back to making sure the magic died."

"So, how did this lead to a test on the Longbottoms?" Fudge asked.

"Dumbledore realized that the ritual he created to counter my family magic could be used to counter all mind affecting magic, be they spell, ritual, or disease," Sirius explained, and Fudge's eyes widened thoughtfully, "because it uses time-space elemental magic."

"So, I'm not seeing the issue yet, Black," Fudge said. "I was notified that the Longbottoms have been cured and are fit as a fiddle. They even rejoined the Auror department. I was planning to visit them myself within the week."

"You haven't seen them yet, have you?" Sirius asked, and Fudge frowned.

"No, but I was told they were fine."

"They are . . ." Sirius said, trailing off, and then he sighed again. "It's debatable whether it's a complication, but one side effect of the ritual was that it erased the Longbottoms memories back to when their minds were affected. The last thing they remember is Death Eaters breaking into their home."

Fudge shrugged.

"That seems more like a kindness, especially given how they've lived the past fourteen years."

"I would agree," Sirius said with a nod, "but it wasn't the only side effect. The ritual also aged them back to that day."

Fudge's eyes widened in shock at that and he leaned forward.

"It aged them . . ."

"Back to the ripe old age of twenty two and twenty three years old," Sirius confirmed. "They were healed several months ago, but nobody wanted to give them a clean bill of health until they were fully analyzed for any complications that might have arisen."

"Incredible," Fudge said, looking a bit thoughtful.

"There were no health complications . . . well beyond the mental toll of finding out you've missed thirteen, going on fourteen years of your son's life," Sirius said sadly. "Volunteers in the long term ward were eager to see if it would cure them, memory loss notwithstanding, but it's been confirmed that it will only work on those who have had their minds affected by magic of some sort, which would include magical diseases. It will obviously do nothing for other natural maladies like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. Still, already the ritual is being used to treat other long term patients with success. It's also now confirmed as a counter to breaking the Imperius Curse, should it be placed on someone. Viktor Krum was the test subject there. Obviously, it's not a perfect counter for the Unforgivable, but it's still better than nothing. It can be used to treat victims of the Unforgivable, once they have been identified."

"Incredible," Fudge repeated. "Why bring this to me now?"

It was the moment of truth.

"The person who had their personality altered against their will was Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black," Sirius said, and Fudge's eyes widened before they narrowed.

"You need my help to get your cousin out of Azkaban to test your spell," Fudge said. "If this "works' then you expect a pardon for her since she was not in control of her faculties. I find it interesting that you just happened to find something that would allow you to get a family member out of Azkaban," Fudge said, a smug grin on his face."

"I didn't make it up," Sirius spat angrily. "She really was forced to be the way she was. I believe she deserves a chance at the life she should have had. This is also a chance for a pureblood witch of an Ancient House to have justice done for her."

"And to do so, I have to let very dangerous magic loose on the world," Fudge responded, changing tactics. "Seems like the life of one witch, one who has already committed heinous crimes is hardly a high price to pay."

"You don't get to decide that," Sirius said forcefully, standing up. "Imperius Curse victims were released. How is this any different?"

"Because you release her and then you get access to the Lestrange seat of the Wizengamot, and you get your cousin, and perhaps fellow Dumbledore supporter free," Fudge said shortly.

"I plan to annul her marriage to Lestrange," Sirius growled out. "This is about doing what's right."

"Well, I'm doing what's right by keeping a criminal locked up and by making sure your family magic is never released," Fudge said smugly. "Should you release it on your own, I will have you censored for spreading dark magic."

"You don't want to make an enemy of me, Cornelius," Sirius snarled, and Fudge smirked.

"Please, I have just as powerful families as supporters, however, if you and Potter would publicly announce that this whole You-Know-Who business is a lie, then perhaps I'd revisit your request. As it is, I can't release a known and convicted Death Eater because her cousin says she was forced to do so, a cousin that many still believe does worship You-Know-Who."

Sirius glared at the man, considering hexing him, but instead just walked out. He might not be able to do anything at the moment, but he was going to make sure Fudge regretted this day.

(Present Day)

"I can't believe Bellatrix Lestrange was controlled and forced to become who she is," Angelina said in shock. "Her name is up there with a lot of the other feared Death Eaters."

"So, what can we do to help her?" Harry asked, and Sirius grimaced.

"Not much, right now. Fudge holds the best cards, so all we can really do is bide our time until things start coming into the open, specifically the truth about Voldemort. At that point in time, we should be able to get what we want, especially since what we want is one less Death Eater and one more for our side."

"That sucks," Harry said, bitterly. "I can't believe that Fudge can just do that. Can't we go public?"

"It's unlikely to do much," Dora said with a sigh. "Fudge and Cuffe are thick as thieves and we're unlikely to have anything printed into the Prophet. We're working on something to try and cancel that, but it's not going to be a quick fix."

"What's the plan?" Harry asked, and Angelina glanced at them curiously.

"I was thinking about starting a newspaper," Sirius said. "Something to counter the Prophet and give real, honest news."

"That would be brilliant," Harry said eagerly. "No more Prophet articles calling me deranged without something else countering it."

Sirius nodded.

"They'd have to find journalists, editors, facilities, and equipment first, though," Remus said. "Plus, they really need to find something to neutralize Cuffe and Skeeter in order to really hurt the Prophet."

Harry glanced at them sheepishly.

"Hermione figured out some dirt on Rita," he admitted. "She's an unregistered animagus."

Sirius, Remus, Dora, and Angelina glanced at him with surprise at that before the three adults all exchanged predatory glances.

"That's a start," Sirius admitted, looking enthusiastic. "We could use that to discredit her or we can arrest her for that."

"Or, we blackmail her to write for us," Dora said. "If we spill her secret, people might think she was telling the truth, her form allowing her to listen in on people's private conversations. Sure, most rational people will be disgusted at her invasion of privacy and people might doubt her work, but they're will be many that think she was telling more of the truth than they might have originally. If we pay her to write for us though, keeping her in check with blackmail, but giving her a steady paycheck to keep her loyal, we'll have poached the Prophet's best attack dog for our paper, which should help ensure we have readers, since she has a huge following. It will help destabilize the Prophet if she can talk about how the Minister is leaning on the Prophet to suppress news. We can even force her to come clean on some of her lies in order to help our side while hurting the Prophet further, since we know Cuffe was aware of Rita's methods."

"That's brilliant," Angelina said, grinning evilly. "The paper deserves to have its dirty secrets spilled for a change, and deserves to have its profits plummet. You will need to find other writers, especially for different sections though."

"While the intent is to stick it to Cuffe and the Prophet, we will also want this to be profitable in the long run," Sirius admitted. "It doesn't really work if it dies after a few years. We will need some good people, but we also have to be careful about how much we offer to steal reporters away."

"Not likely," Remus said. "There aren't a lot of true papers in England. Sure, there are magazines and journals, but not a lot of papers because the Prophet destroyed most of its competitors. I don't think journalists there are paid incredibly well. You're right, in that we need to do the math, but Angelina's right in that we might be able to poach some talent for specific sections of this paper."

"You probably could get Jamie Spinnet, Alicia's sister," Angelina said thoughtfully. "She'd love a chance to finally move up and report on what she wants to report on. She hates reporting on fashion. A pay raise, even if minimal at that, and a chance to stick it to the Prophet will just make her happier. Plus, to help keep people interested, you could report muggle entertainment, muggle announcements, and follow muggle sports like football. The Prophet would never allow anything muggle to be reported. Katie's mum and older brother are both sports correspondents. It's part of what drew her to Quidditch. They already write for their own respective local papers. It would be simple to pay them a bit extra to report for you too."

"Well, that's a problem for tomorrow, however I like the idea of muggle news as well as wizarding news," Sirius said eagerly. "Operation Slay the Prophet is starting to look promising."

"Well, if that's all done, then can you tell me what Dumbledore is doing to counter Voldemort?" Harry asked, and Angelina focused as well.

The three adults exchanged glances.

"We're not going to leave you completely in the dark, but we do agree that there are some things you don't need to know," Dora said. "A general picture will help you be aware, but there's no need for you to know things like people's specific guard details or even necessarily everyone in it, since we want to keep some people secret."

"I guess that makes sense," Harry said, agreeable as long as they were going to give him information.

"What you should know is that Dumbledore has reactivated the Order of the Phoenix. It's a group he founded back during the first war to counter Voldemort, though it might have existed back during the war with Grindelwald too. I don't know. Honestly, we've only had one meeting and the focus was on convincing people who answered the call of the threat and bringing them up to snuff on details," Sirius said.

"Our main focus is bringing awareness to the rest of the country, and recruiting members for the Order, while trying to counter Voldemort's actions. As of now, it's too early for us to say much more than that," Remus said.

Harry and Angelina nodded in understanding. It had only been a week.

"The one thing that was revealed during the meeting," Dora began hesitantly, "was that there was a prophecy made before you were born, Harry."

"A prophecy?" Harry asked with a frown. "Like a divination prophecy? I thought that stuff was all malarkey?"

"No, there are true prophecies," Sirius said darkly. "They are hard because they are always very cryptic and the people who generally try to prevent them usually cause what the damn thing predicted would occur, making many of them self-fulfilling."

"So, what does this have to do with me?" Harry asked, swallowing nervously.

"Dumbledore said it could have applied to two people," Dora said softly. "None of us here know what the prophecy says, so we can't confirm that, but if Dumbledore is sure, then it's probably true in that it could apply to both you and apparently Neville."

"This is why Dumbledore warned your parents to go into hiding," Sirius continued. "Voldemort apparently heard the first part of the prophecy which would help him identify who . . . and he went looking for you."

Harry stood up quickly. "Why hasn't Dumbledore told me about this?"

Dora glared.

"I asked the same thing, and I was pissed that I didn't know about it until that meeting. He said he didn't want to burden you with it, and most of his reasoning was that he figured it would be many years before Voldemort managed to regain his body, and he hoped to allow you to grow into your powers and enjoy your childhood before that point."

Harry snorted in exasperation and Dora, Sirius, and Remus nodded in agreement.

"But, Harry didn't have a good childhood and he's been involved in so many bad things since he started Hogwarts," Angelina said in disbelief. "How could he think that Harry was living in just blind bliss?"

"No idea," Dora said with a shake of her head. "That's basically what I said."

"What we know is that Voldemort wants to kill you very badly," Remus said. "That's something we always knew, but now we have a better idea of why. We may not know what the prophecy says, and even Voldemort doesn't know the full thing, but it's clear that he is fixated on you, and Dumbledore wanted to place your protection on the Order, so Dumbledore too must put some faith in the prophecy."

"So, what?" Harry demanded. "I'm the one destined to kill Voldemort? Trust me, I tried, but I'm not good enough. Not yet, maybe never, and he's alive. He'll be killing again soon. Am I just supposed to train while he kills people? Are people going to keep dying and ending up like Cedric, collateral fucking damage, because I'm not ready to kill him? I swore to my deities I would ensure that bastard dies someday, but that was supposed to be after I was ready!"

"Harry, we don't know what the prophecy says," Remus said quietly. "We don't know, and even if it does say that, it doesn't bind you. There are plenty of people capable of killing that monster, and forcing you to do it is cruel."

"I know you'll want to fight, and perhaps someday you will kill that monster, but you aren't alone, and you never will be," Dora agreed.

"They are right, Harry," Angelina said finally, looking at Harry, her eyes glinting with determination. "You're not alone."

Harry met all of their eyes and Astra rubbed up against his legs and finally he nodded slowly and he retook his seat.

"Now, Harry, because of Voldemort, we don't want you to wander off the property all that much, especially without one of us as an escort," Sirius said grimly.

Harry frowned and the three adults sighed.

"We get it, but the truth is that you are a target, and there is no guarantee that Voldemort can't find us here," Sirius said. "It won't be easy for him, but it's still possible. I don't care if you wander all over this property, which is plenty big and should keep you and Angelina here busy. Play quidditch, explore the woods, lounge at the lake, study, do as you will. You can even visit friends or invite them here. We can plan trips out to places. We just don't really want you going into the public without one of us or Mad-Eye. We want to minimize that chance for someone to attack you."

"They're not asking for much, Harry," Angelina said fairly, rather seeing their point, and also a bit humbled that they had already entrusted her with all this knowledge, considering she'd just moved in. It warmed her heart that they took the whole "considering her family thing" very seriously. She did as well. "We can get Leash, Kate, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny over here for Quiddtich easily enough. Might even be able to talk Hermione onto a broom if we beg hard enough and get Ron to bat his baby blues at her."

Harry snorted in amusement and finally nodded.

"That's fine. Other than going to friends' houses or Mad-Eye's place, I didn't exactly plan to go anywhere alone anyway."

"Well, you'll still do some lessons with Mad-Eye, but it will be shorter and only when he can fit them in," Dora said.

"And you'll continue your blacksmithing lessons with the goblins," Sirius added.

"Well, it sounds like my schedule is fuller than I thought," Harry muttered, and shot an apologetic look at Angelina who waved away his concerns.

"I still would like to get a job this summer and I really need to get back into the swing of things for Quidditch, and maybe Mad-Eye will let me join in for some of those famous lessons of his," Angelina said with a grin. "Still, it seems to me that inviting our friends over and exploring the woods, lakes, and fields of my new home, and spending time with you when we're both free sounds like a great way to spend my summer."

"We want you to have fun and not think about the war too much," Remus said. "For now, there's not much you can do anyway, so focus more on enjoying your time while you can and continue to study this summer."

Harry and Angelina nodded, even if the former's was a bit halfhearted.