Sirius Orion Black sat alone in his kitchen in Grimmauld Place 12. In his hand was an empty bottle of firewhisky. The entire kitchen was littered with empty bottles, and the smell of alcohol was lingering in the air.

The dim light filtering through the dusty windows paints a somber picture of a man burdened by his thoughts. Sirius gazed blankly at the cracked ceiling, lost in memories of his past and his mistakes.

He wondered where it all went wrong and how he let it happen. Was it when he, along with James, trusted Pettigrew to become a secret keeper? Was it when he chose to chase after the rat instead of taking care of his godson? Or maybe it was when he put the word of Dumbledore over the well-being of Harry.

He was supposed to be his godfather and take care of him no matter what, but as always, he failed. It seemed that his mother was right, he was nothing more than a disappointment.

Sirius got up from the table and started to look for a new bottle of whisky, maybe it would help him forget.

As he made his way looking for another bottle of alcohol, he heard a crunching of the wooden floor behind him. Sirius slowly turned around, knowing that only one person had access to his home.

"Merlin Padfoot, what are you doing with yourself?" Remus Lupin, Sirius's only remaining friend, stands before him, wearing shabby robes and looking sick and tired.

"Moony," slurped Sirius happily, "came for a drink?"

Remus shook his head. "Sirius, this has to stop. You can't keep drowning your sorrows in whisky like this." He moved closer to Sirius and gently took a bottle from his hand. "I know you're hurting, but it's already been a few months, you need to start living."

"I… I don't know how to face everything, Moony. I failed them, James, Lily, and Harry. I failed Harry." Sirius's voice trembled with sorrow as he tried to hold back tears.

"Padfoot, we all made mistakes," Remus began softly. "But that doesn't mean we can't try to fix them. You know that Harry isn't lost completely."

Sirius knew this, Harry's life crystal in Gringotts confirmed that he somehow survived the veil, something that was supposed to be impossible. Yet surviving the killing curse was also supposed to be impossible, if anything, Harry was the definition of defying all odds.

"Dumbledore believes that there might be a way to bring him back," began Remus, "and Order is in need of you more than ever, you should..."

"Fuck the order and fuck Dumbledore," interrupted Sirius angrily. "We're in this shit mostly because of him."

Sirius pointed his finger straight at Remus's chest, pushing him away slightly. "If not for his wise advice, Harry wouldn't be lost in the first place."

"I understand your anger, but he is our only hope to win this and find Harry," said Remus.

"What good has the order done anyway?" Sirius raged, his frustration building. "James and Lily are still gone, Bones are reduced to two members, Prewetts are dead, so are McKinnons. All because we trusted Dumbledore's grand plan. Face it, Moony, we already lost this war."

"Dumbledore has a plan," started Remus, trying to calm his friend.

"Of course he does," spat Sirius, sitting down at the kitchen table "he always has some kind of plan. Just never tell anyone about it until it is too late and everything goes tits up. So what is this great plan of his, and what is the order doing now?"

Remus took a deep breath. "Headmaster is looking for a way to summon Harry back from the veil."

Sirius gazed at Remus with a look of disbelief. "That's it? No other plans for Dark Tosser and his merry band? What about the Ministry?" Sirius took a deep breath to calm his nerves as he sat down on the chair. "So Dumbledore's big plan is to summon Harry, throw him at Voldemort, and then hope for the best?"

"Padfoot, you know of prophecy", started Remus, unsure.

"Fuck the prophecy, Moony!" snarled Sirius, hitting the blat of the table with his fist, making the werewolf flinch. "Dumbledore's whims are leading us straight into the jaws of death. I refuse to play puppet to his schemes any longer."

Remus looked at Sirius and tried to speak to calm him down. "I know you're angry, Padfoot, but Dumbledore is truly working for the greater good. He believes that Harry is the key to defeating Voldemort once and for all. We must trust in his wisdom and guidance."

Sirius shook his head in frustration. "I've had enough of blindly following Dumbledore's orders. He doesn't explain anything because the time isn't right, and then we all suffer the consequences."

Sirius got up from his chair and started pacing the room. "But what has he truly done for us? Did he even try to help me get the trial that I deserved? Did he help Harry on his own trial? Be honest with me, Moony, can we truly trust Dumbledore, or are we just some pawns in his game that he sacrifices on wimps?" Sirius took a deep breath to calm himself. "In the end, we will either end up dead or worse, like Longbottoms."

"Wait, you didn't hear?" asked surprised Remus.

"Hear what? I'm not exactly up to date with anything," said frustrated Sirius.

"Longbottoms are awake," said Remus.

"What?" exclaimed a shocked Sirius.

"Before his trial, Harry went to Gringotts and arranged some kind of treatment for them. While you threw all of the order out of here to drink yourself to death, goblins took them from St. Mungo and healed them," explained Remus.

"So Frank and Alice are back?" asked Sirius in disbelief.

Remus nodded with a small smile on his face. "Yes, they are back. Harry made sure they received the best care possible." He confirmed, "Augusta was on the warpath at first when they disappeared from the hospital, and there weren't any signs of them for 3 months."

Sirius stood still for a moment, processing the news. "Well, I'll be damned," he muttered.

"Yes, but when the goblins finally informed Regent Longbottom and all the Longbottoms met together, then they gave them a letter from Harry." said Remus, but Sirius could hear something was wrong with this statement.

"What was in the letter?" asked Sirius impatiently, wanting to know anything new about his godson.

"Basically, Harry disbanded the Potter-Longbottom alliance on the grounds of betrayal from the Regent Longbottom and Heir Longbottom," said Remus. "I'm not sure about the specifics, but Augusta not supporting him on his trial was one of the reasons."

Sirius stared at the werewolf and then started to laugh loudly. Remus looked at Sirius, unsure of what was so amusing about breaking the centuries-old alliance.

Sirius eventually composed himself and wiped a tear from his eye. "Harry really knows how to make a statement, first he calls all the debts to his families and now breaks his last ties with Britain," he remarked.

"This isn't something to laugh about, Padfoot." Remus said, shaking his head, "Harry's actions are causing so many problems. Britain is on its last legs right now."

"So?" said Sirius, still chuckling.

"So? Padfoot, do you even understand what it means for Britain to be in chaos?" Remus was indignant.

"Let it burn," said Sirius dismissively. "I won't cry over our wonderfully corrupted and bigoted country."

Remus sighed, knowing that he wouldn't be able to reason with Sirius about the state of Britain. "So are you going to still sit here and wallow in self-pity, or are you going to help the order?" Remus said after a moment.

Sirius took a long look at his friend, carefully thinking about it. On one side, he despised Dumbledore and his blind followers, constantly dancing to his tune without being given any true information or reason why to do this. On the other hand, even if he didn't join them back, they would still go with Dumbledore's plans without him.

If he joins back, he at least could keep an eye on them and help Harry when needed, they will try to summon him back regardless. And what they really wanted from him either way was that he still had a 'Kiss on Sight' order on his head and couldn't leave his home without being hunted.

Breaking the silence, Sirius finally said, "Are Frank and Alice rejoining the order?"

"Yes," answered Remus, "they are back in the order, for now they are staying in their manor, getting to full health, and from what I heard, Frank had some major arguments with Augusta, but they will help us."

"Fine," said Sirius, "so what does our dear leader want from me?"

Remus smiled upon hearing Sirius. "He wanted access to Black's library to research means to summon Harry back. Dumbledore believes that your family can have such a ritual."

"No," Sirius said, shaking his head. "This is family magic. I may hate my family, but that doesn't mean that I will give access to all their work to him."

"Padfoot.." Remus began but was instantly cut off by Sirius.

"Tell him that I will check it myself." Sirius got up from the chair and started moving towards the exit of the kitchen. "I cannot leave the house either way, something that Dumbledore promised my godson to do something about years ago. I will look for such a ritual and tell you if I find something."

"Are you sure?" Remus said as he watched his friend leave the kitchen.

"Yes, now go report to him, I have work to do." Sirius said, leaving his friend alone.

Sirius needed to speak with the Longbottoms, make plans with them, talk about Harry and Dumbledore, and convince them to help him protect his godson. Maybe he should also send a letter to Amelia to see if she could somehow help, if she believed in his innocence.

He may have failed James, Lily, and Harry too many times already, but this time he won't. This time, he will do everything in his power to support his godson. And if he needed to play a grimm in sheep clothing to do so and listen to the old fool for so long, so be it.

Sirius just needed to remember his old lessons given to him by Uncle Charlus and Grandfather Arcturus, stop being an immature prankster of a brat, and become a Black once more. The Grimm of Marauders will have its laugh at them.

—-xXx—-

In Malfoy's Manor, dozens of death eaters were walking as if they owned the place. Narcissa hated this with passion. Who did these lowlifes think they were to behave like this?

More than half of them are nothing more than pampers now that Potter has recalled all debts owed to his families. They didn't have any galleons to their names and still behaved as if Merlin's gift to them all.

She scoffed at seeing another young fool who was proudly showing his new dark mark to his fellow idiots. The Dark Lord started to recruit more and more the past few days after his losses in France.

After Potter recalled all debts and destroyed the economy of Magical Britain in one swell move, he then sent his memory of Dark Lord's resurrection straight to the ICW, which in turn proclaimed that Dark Lord was indeed back.

Fudge, of course, cried that it wasn't true and that the brat was lying and modifying a memory in some stupid plot to make Dumbledore a new minister. Narcissa truly didn't know where such idiots were born, Dumbledore had already refused to be appointed minister of magic on three separate occasions.

Then ICW wanted Potter to ask directly about it. So when it came to their knowledge that not only Wizengamot stood a full trial for a child and in the process killed said child, they were furious, especially with whom they executed.

ICW somehow also obtained a memory of a trial, after seeing it, they demanded answers. Fudge, of course, scoffed and started shouting back that they didn't have any authority over him, no doubt her stupid husband and the pink toad whispered words of encouragement to him.

And with this, the ICW removed magical Britain from confederation and placed an embargo on everything they could be magical or not. Banned British magicals, be it pureblood or otherwise, from even visiting other countries, effectively making the British Isles the biggest prison on earth.

So the Dark Lord, wanting to show them back, sent a small group of death eaters to France to cause some chaos. Needless to say, French aurors weren't as pathetic as the British equivalent. From the group of twenty, eight died, and the rest were arrested and sent straight to Nurmengard.

The Dark Lord raged and cast his favorite pain curse on his loyal followers. The only good thing was that for whatever reason he still chose to be in hiding, she didn't even want to guess why that was, but at least the meaningless slaughter on the streets hasn't started yet thanks to this.

The only thing that she knew was that the Dark Lord wanted something from the Department of Mysteries, but Dumbledore had his own people in place, blocking him.

Narcissa hated the position they were in, and even more, she hated that a big portion of the problem was because of her foolish husband. She should take an example from her sister, Andromeda, and run away when she has a chance.

Right now she was making her way to her room, the only place in the entire manor where she could relax and not think about how deep they all fell following this mad man.

Pureblood supremacy was nothing but a joke, and she knew this: the strongest wizards of their age were half-bloods after all. Both Dumbledore and the Dark Lord weren't purebloods, yet they were the only titans of magic right now.

She was aware of the Dark Lord's origins and had conducted thorough research on the topic. Yet, she chose to keep this knowledge to herself to avoid incurring his wrath.

Most of these noble purebloods see her merely as a trophy wife, easily forgetting the prestigious house she hails from. If they choose to view her in that light, Narcissa will not object, it is far simpler to make her move discreetly from the shadows.

She reached her bedroom and entered. Inside was her sad excuse of a husband. Lucius clearly saw better days, his sunken face showed the number of times that his beloved lord got him under Cruciatus' curse.

His once-prestigious clothes, which he wore with pride, were now tattered and stained, a shadow of their former glory. Lucius barely glanced at his wife as she entered, his eyes were distant and haunted.

Narcissa wondered on which of his failures he was thinking right now: was it about the state of Malfoy fortune, maybe about their son, who with each day showed even more disappointment, or maybe how he effectively helped to architect the destruction of Britain?

She knew that sending the dementors was done by the Umbridge, but Lucius wanted to seize the opportunity, and now they all paid the consequences. But she couldn't blame him entirely for it.

After all the stories from both Draco and Snape, they all thought that Potter was an arrogant brat without any real brain. And Dumbledore, as a known pacifist, would allow them to do as they wanted. Well, Potter has the last laugh now.

She at least enjoyed the screams of Snape when the Dark Lord placed him under the Cruciatus curse for his reports on Potter and the reputation that he gathered for Slytherin House.

"Any more brilliant plans, oh dear husband of mine?" she asked.

As Lucius lifted his gaze to meet hers, a sense of frustration flickered across his face. "I don't need you to speak such words to me, Narcissa. Don't forget your place," he retorted coldly.

"My place?" She raised her delicate eyebrow and said, "It, at the very least, isn't on the floor screaming from the pain, begging for forgiveness." she scoffed.

Lucius clenched his fists in frustration, his knuckles turning white from the pressure. "You forget yourself, woman. I am still your Lord husband, despite our current predicament," he sneered, his voice laced with bitterness.

"Oh, but of course, my lord husband," Narcissa's voice dripped with venom ,"How could I ever forget the greatness that surrounds us?" She moved across the room, her elegant posture contrasting sharply with Lucius's haggard appearance.

"Surely your brilliance will guide us out of this predicament," she added with a sardonic smile.

Lucius's eyes narrowed at her sarcastic tone, his jaw clenching in frustration. "Mock me all you want, Narcissa, but know that I will find a way to restore our family's honor," he declared.

Narcissa smirked, her amusement evident in her icy gaze. "Oh, I have no doubt of your determination, my dear husband. Only time will tell if your ambition outweighs your incompetence," she quipped, her voice dripping with disdain.

Lucius bristled at her words, a flicker of anger flashing in his eyes before he regained his composure. "I will not stand for your disrespectful tone any longer," he warned, his voice cutting through the tension in the room.

"Then sit down," Narcissa remarked. "What are the plans of yours to bring us back from this situation? Why is the Dark Lord still trying to hide his resurrection? Tell me, Lucius."

"The Dark Lord..." began Lucius, his voice dropping to a hushed tone as he carefully chose his words, "Something went wrong with the ritual that brought him back."

She scoffed at that, thinking that Lucius was lying to her. "Please, dear husband, I saw him just after his return. And excluding his monstrous appearance, he seemed just fine, even more than happy to be back."

"That's true," retorted Lucius. "At first there wasn't any problem, and the Dark Lord was planning on attacking Azkaban to release others, but then after Potter's trial..." he trailed off.

"Well?" She raised an eyebrow for him to continue.

"Something happened, and the Dark Lord's blood is corrupted by something." Lucius cleared his throat before continuing, "It seems he now needs something to steady his form. Some dark magic, perhaps. Right now, Severus is providing him potions to keep him healthy enough, but with ICW's embargo on the ingredients and the state of our finances, it won't be easy to sustain."

Narcissa analyzed the information, her expression in deep thought. "So, our very survival seems to hinge on the stability of the Dark Lord," she mused. "His condition is continuing to deteriorate, but his madness seems to be only increasing."

"Be careful how you speak about the Dark Lord," snapped Lucius, getting closer to her.

"Oh, please, you should already know he isn't the promised champion to purebloods Lucius," she remarked coldly. "How many families died in the last war? Do you want the Malfoys to join them?"

"Don't be foolish, Narcissa," Lucius retorted sharply. "The Dark Lord holds power that we cannot underestimate."

Narcissa held his gaze, not backing down, "I suppose you are willing to place Draco at risk for this cause as well? Is he going to follow in your footsteps? He is already proving himself to be a disappointment, just like you."

Lucius' jaws tightened, his eyes narrowing, before responding. "Draco will serve as any other pureblood son should, in loyalty to the Dark Lord."

Narcissa knew that their son was a lost cause, clearly following in his father's footsteps either way. The boy never listened to her when it came to anything, and now it was too late for him. Draco believed too much in the Dark Lord's greatness and pureblood supremacy to change his ways.

It hurt her that her own son thought nothing of her, that he thought of her as nothing more than a pretty face that has nothing to contribute to anything. Draco, too far down the path of indoctrination, seemed beyond her reach. And with pain in her heart, she knew she needed to make a choice.

Either stay here with a madman that would lead them all into pits of hell or abandon everything behind and find another way by herself to survive. The Malfoys were done already, no matter what fantasies Lucius liked to believe in.

"If you want to sacrifice everything in this mad crusade, so be it, Lucius," she said, "but I won't be part of it. I won't kiss the feet of this mad squiborn," she spat.

Lucius slapped her in his anger, and Narcissa fell to the floor. A small amount of blood on her lips tasted bitter. The sharp sting of pain was swiftly followed by cold fury. Her hand moved to her wand and started to discreetly place silencing wards around the room.

"I said watch your tongue, women," Lucius screamed furiously, his fury blinding him on her movement. "If anyone heard you speak like that, do you even know what the Dark Lord would do?"

"I am well aware of the consequences, Lucius," she retorted, rising slowly to her feet.

"Are you?" he questioned. "Because the Dark Lord will lead us to greatness, mark my words, you foolish woman, and then..."

Lucius couldn't finish his words as he was blasted into the wall with a sickening crunch.

"People like to say that Bellatrix is the most dangerous witch alive," remarked idly Narcissa, wiping the remaining blood from her lips. "The same people forget about me, her sister not being any less dangerous, just much more sane, wouldn't you agree, oh dear husband of mine?"

Lucius' eyes widened with fear as he tried to scramble towards his cane, where his wand was hidden. Narcissa always found it laughable how this proud wizard had his wand out of range at times.

With a swift flick of her wand, she cut the cane in half, destroying her husband's wand in the process, leaving him defenseless against her wrath on the floor.

"Kreacher," she called, watching her sad excuse of a husband shivering on the floor.

A small, ancient-looking house elf appeared next to her, wearing rags. "Miss Cissy called old Kreacher?"

"Yes Kreacher, I need you to pack my things and take it to my cousin Sirius," she commanded the elf, "after I finish a little chat with my husband I will call you again to take me there as well. Am I clear?"

"Yes, mistress, Kreacher understands." The elf bowed to her and, with a snap of his fingers, started to pack things around the room.

"Now then," Narcissa's full attention was once again on Lucius, "where did we leave off, my dear husband?"

With a flick of her wand, she conjured magical restraint to bind Lucius, rendering him immobile. His eyes were full of fear as he realized his latest mistake.

"You always fancy yourself untouchable, don't you, Lucius?" Placing a finger under his chin, she lifted his gaze to meet hers. "Do you still feel like the superior one in this marriage, or perhaps you might want to reconsider your views?"

"Narcissa, please, I beg you, spare me," he pleaded, his voice trembling with fear.

"Oh Lucius, begging already?" She mocked, a cruel smile on her lips.

Narcissa now knew there wasn't turning back, she chose her path and would take her chances with the other side. Her cousin knew how to hide, as he had proven over the last few years, and if needed, she could always hide on one of Black's Islands in the tropics.

"You love so much to scream for your master," a chilling smile played on her lips as she leaned closer, her breath chilling against his skin, her voice lowering to a mere whisper. "Now scream for me, oh dear husband of mine."

Narcissa Malfoy was no more, but Narcissa Black was reborn to the screams of her ex-husband.

—-xXx—-

Leaving her little sister's room, Daphne Greengrass began walking towards her father's study. She returned from Hogwarts to spend Yule with her family. Her sister's condition was deteriorating, and she couldn't attend school anymore.

The blood curse that her family suffered was stronger in Astoria than in Daphne, and she feared that her sister didn't have much more time. Her father was looking for anything to help dispel the curse, using every resource that their family had.

Making her way down the familiar hallway lined with portraits of past Greengrass ancestors, Daphne couldn't shake off the sense of dread that clung to her like a shadow.

The last few months in Hogwarts weren't any easier, the entire world seemed to go into chaos. The Ministry sent Umbridge to teach defense against the dark arts, if what she did could even be called teaching.

In truth, everyone with half a brain could see that she was placed there only as a means of control. Daphne was lucky enough to be a pureblood to not be under such scrutiny as others.

She remembered the faces of those who were targeted by Umbridge's prejudiced ways. It sickened her to think of how much power one person could have over so many lives just by using politics and corruption to her advantage.

Umbridge especially loved to target the ones that were close to Potter—those who dared to question her authority or didn't conform to her twisted ideals. It was some sick kind of revenge for Potter after he dared to humiliate the Ministry in so many ways.

Her family was one of the lucky ones that didn't have to count galleons to survive, her father always made sure to pay any debts as quickly as he could, and thanks to this, they could still afford her sister's treatment. Sadly, it also painted a larger target on them from the dark faction wanting to take control of their fortune.

Her footsteps echoed through the corridor, portraits of stern-looking ancestors seeming to watch her every move. As she got closer to her father's study, she could hear a faint noise of discussion coming behind the heavy wooden doors.

The doors were opened with a loud bang as, from the inside, emerged a large man. Daphne froze in her tracks, recognizing the figure before her. It was one of the lords from the dark faction, Tiberius Nott, father of her classmate Theodore.

She could take a guess as to why he was here, but she managed to keep her composure. Her heart pounded in her chest, but Daphne's face remained composed as she met Tiberius Nott's gaze.

He sneered down at her after a moment and then turned back towards her father's study. "You will regret making this choice, Greengrass. Mark my words," he said as he started moving towards the Floo.

Daphne quickly entered the room, closing the door behind her. Her father was sitting behind his desk, looking like a proud lord. His long platinum-blond hair was tied in a neat ponytail that cascaded down his back, matching his piercing blue eyes.

"Father," Daphne began, "what business do you have with Tiberius Nott?"

"Tiberius came with a proposal," her father started, "more demand, to be honest. A marriage proposal between you and his son, Theodore."

Daphne took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves before responding. Seeing her state, her father raised his hand to stop her from speaking.

"I refused, of course," he said with finality. "I would never sell you to them."

Daphne felt a rush of relief upon hearing her father's words. "Thank you, Father."

She was grateful to her father, but she knew that this decision would have consequences. Daphne just hoped that it wouldn't bring a full Death Eaters raid on their mansion.

"How is Astoria doing?" he asked, wanting to change the topic.

"She is feeling better today," Daphne replied. "She's been busy with her studies, trying to catch up with the material."

"That's good," he smiled, "and I believe that I am getting closer to finding the cure to our curse."

He pulled a paper from a drawer and showed it to her. "I have been working tirelessly on the research of old families that could possibly possess rituals that could help us."

Daphne carefully examined the paper her father presented her. She could see quite a few names written in here, but from what she could remember, all of them belonged to the extinct houses.

"I know what you are thinking right now," he said, seeing disappointment on her face. "All of these families are long gone. And you would be right in this regard, all of them are dead," he paused for a moment, "but one, Peverells are back as of last summer."

Daphne's eyes widened at that information. "How sure are you about this father? Wouldn't the prophet report it, at least if it were true?"

"The Prophet had its own problems at the time, with their major shareholder pulling back from them and throwing them out of their building." He said, "They didn't expect Potter to have so much control over them, they wouldn't even try to write about him if they knew beforehand."

He laughed thinking of this, and suddenly he started to cough out blood from his mouth. Daphne quickly made her move around the desk to help him out.

She knew that her father's state was as bad as Astoria's, and only thanks to glamor spells did he look as healthy as he did, without them, his frail appearance would make him seem weak in the eyes of other lords.

"It's okay," he said after a moment, catching his breath. "Going back to the Peverells, goblins provided me with information about this new lord, for a good amount of galleons, of course."

Daphne still looked unsure at him. Not wanting to ignore his health, but seeing his determination, she chose to continue the topic for now, "Who is he? And how sure were we that he could possess the knowledge to break the curse?"

"There is bad and good news there," he said, wiping the remaining blood from his chin. "The good news is that I'm positive that they have means to negate the curse or at least remove the symptoms, the return of Longbottoms is probably because of Peverells's knowledge."

Daphne frowned, processing the new information. "What's the bad news, then?"

Her father's expression turned somber: "Potter is the new Peverell Lord."

Daphne couldn't stop her gasp, they were so close, but now, with Potter thrown through the veil, everything seemed to crumble.

"Then it's a dead end," she said, closing her eyes in frustration.

"There may be a way," her father started. "We know that Potter is alive wherever he is, goblins confirmed it."

"You don't think of summoning him back?" She inquired, "I may not know him too well, but even I can tell that he won't be happy."

Daphne heard rumors in Hogwarts corridors about Dumbledore's plans, and she found them foolish, if they were true. After watching a memory of the trail that her father provided, she could tell that Potter wanted to go through the veil, she didn't know why, but he clearly knew more about portal than others.

Summoning him back would only make him angry, and then he surely wouldn't help them with their family curse. Dumbledore may believe that he could talk Potter into helping him, but she wasn't so sure.

He nodded at her words, "Exactly, he may not be willing to return. This is why we will be looking for a safe way to send you and your sister to him."

"And what about you?" she asked, hearing that he didn't count himself in the process.

"Daphne, my time is coming to an end," he said sadly. "I don't know how much I got, but it may not be enough. You are the future Lady Greengrass, you will have to be strong. I know that you can do it."

"But..." she started, her voice wavering as she struggled to hold back tears.

Her father reached out and squeezed her hand gently. "No buts," he said softly, "your sister depends on you. You are already prepared enough to take the reins if needed, and you make me proud each day."

Daphne swallowed hard. "I will do whatever it takes to protect our family, father."

Her father looked with a smile on his face and said, "Now, let us focus on finding a way to send you to Potter."


Response to reviews:

knygia, Ronin Kenshin, .upg, frankieu, flame55, firelordeg, KelpRope, James Birdsong: Thanks for reading, and I hope that you will enjoy this interlude chapter as well!

CalebThorne13: Thanks for pointing it out! Already fixed, for whatever reason, my grammar checker thought that occult isn't a good enough word. Thanks for reading!

TwinstarDragon: Chaos is already there, but when Harry is summoned eventually, he will certainly make it even bigger. Thanks for reading!

Church21: When it comes to magic systems, characters from the farming world will be capable of recreating some spells with magic circles (some effects are quite frankly easy, such as creating light), but some magic will be more difficult for them, such as transfiguration or patronus charm. I will propably try to keep magic systems separated, with only a few characters using somewhat both of them (Harry being one of them for sure).

Quidditch is already planned as a tournament, but for this, I need more villagers to have at least two teams to have Harry introduce the game. In the future, there may be a big league built from demons, elves, dragons, dwarves, lizardmen, beastmen, angels, vampires, etc. (sadly, wolves and spiders won't be capable of playing).

Hiraku is pretty dense even further into the story, but it is quite frankly part of the charm of his character. Harry, on the other hand, will be more reactive and not as dense, he will have his moments of brain freeze, so to speak, but not as many as Hiraku. I will try to expand elves as characters as much as I can (something that I was trying to do with Ru in the last couple of chapters). Of course, not every High Elf will get its moment, as there are too many of them, but Ria, for certain, will have a bit more scenes than in the original to build some relationship between her and Harry.

He won't bring all of Britain with him to this new world, but some specific characters (you could propably tell some after this interlude chapter), and even then, not every character that he will bring with him back to this new world will be living in the Big Tree Village. (I don't know if you read the manga or novel, but there is more than one village under Hiraku's rule. I hope that it isn't much of a spoiler, if so, then sorry for it.)

And by the time he is summoned back, he won't be the same Boy Who Lived that they knew, but Village Chief, who is dealing with dragons on a daily basis, so his being independent is a guarantee. Especially that some characters from the new world are making Voldemort and Dumbledore look like children when it comes to power levels.