Harry Potter and The Order Of The Basilisk

by IdkbutIsortado

Starts post-3rd-year. Harry learns the ways of the wizarding world and becomes smarter, stronger and more adept at life in general. The wizarding war will be more interesting. The muggle world will be somewhat relevant, along with Europe in general because I think there was potential wasted.

5. OoTB Chapter 5

OoTB 5

Please point out any inconsistencies in this story. As I've said before, I write one chapter over a period of weeks, so I might miss stuff. Please let me know if/when I do. Such things bug me when I'm reading, and I want to make this a pleasant read.

This is, by a large margin, the longest chapter so far and will pick up the pace a bit, getting us to around mid-October. The next chapter will hopefully see the champion selection and maybe the first task.

Thanks for reading!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Previously:

There was a shout from where Dawlish had been searching the woods.

"Robards! Williamson! We've found someone!"

…..

"Well then bring them over, Dawlish!" Captain Williamson called back at him. "And make sure you mark out where they were for when forensics get off their arses!"

Moments later, Auror Dawlish emerged from the trees, followed by another auror. The second man was carrying a house elf in his arms.

"Here she is. She was lying around a dozen metres into the bush," the second auror said as he set the elf down gently.

"And she was under an invisibility cloak," Dawlish added, holing up the silvery fabric, "I almost tripped over her."

"Really? Interesting, not many can afford invisibility cloaks, even less would let their elf use it." Robards mused.

"Wait a minute," Hermione said, "Isn't that Mr Crouch's house elf Winky?"

There was a pause in the clearing.

"Bloody hell, it is!" Ron exclaimed.

"Impossible." Percy objected, "Mr Crouch would never do such a thing. Or order something like this for that matter."

"Mr Weasley, is this, or is this not Barty Crouch's house elf?"

"I- it is. But even so, he would never want the Dark Mark to fly over Britain."

Robards and Williamson exchanged a meaningful look, before waving over one of the Hit-Wizards.

"Yeah? What is it, Robards?" he asked.

"We've got Barty Crouch's elf here. She was under an invisibility cloak, over there. I need one of your people to grab some magical cuffs, the proper ones you lot get to use, from the ministry."

"Alright, I'll send the newbie, Grownley." The man answered, "Are we going to have to arrest Crouch here? D'you reckon?"

"Quite possibly. Elves don't just do something like this without orders."

"Got it, I'll make sure my team knows. Who's gonna break the news to Bones and Fudge?"

"Me and Williamson will. Send for them if would, we all know Fudge won't go anywhere if he doesn't think he's safer than Gringotts. Not even having six of our best is enough for our esteemed minister."

"Will do. In fact, I'll go get them myself."

"Alright, cheers Meadowes."

"You kidding me? I wouldn't miss this moment for the world, never liked Crouch or Fudge." He replied with a grin before heading back off to his men.

Williamson watched him go before turning back to Dawlish.

"There a wand on her?" he asked.

"Er, I didn't check the ground around her. But she's an elf, they do loads without wands."

"The dark mark isn't just castable, even by a house elf, she should've had a wand on her. It was something in one of the old interrogation files. The dark mark needs a wand. Some shit about 'only being castable by superior beings'" He explained.

"Well go and check then!" Robards barked, "Crucial evidence, a wand is."

As Dawlish scrambled to go and check the scene, one of the Hit-Wizards apparated back into the clearing, with two pairs of magical handcuffs.

"Here you go sir," he said as he held them out to Robards.

"Officially as an auror, I can't use these without a warrant," Robards replied, pushing them back towards the man.

"Permission to speak sir?" he asked.

"Yeah, shoot."

"If you have just cause, such as a flight risk, or no other means of blocking transport, aurors may request the use of magic-restraining cuffs to use on prisoners. Also, the law only refers to their use on humans, not creatures. This house elf is considered non-human and therefore not covered by the law. It's either just cause or a grey zone, whichever we use, you can use them." The man rattled off.

"Hm," Robards cracked a small smile as he took the cuffs from the man's still outstretched hand, "I see you've been reading up well Grownley. Good answer."

"Thank you, sir." He said, a small smile on his face, as he returned to the group of Hit-Wizards.

Just as Robards straightened up from applying the cuffs, there was the sound of multiple apparitions as the minister and his entourage arrived at the scene.

"Auror captains Robards and Williamson!" fudge shouted, "What is the meaning of this? First, you allow this disaster to happen, and then you summon me to the middle of nowhere! And what the bloody hell are you doing with those cuffs? The Auror Corps needs a warrant to use them!"

"Minister. First things first, this attack is no fault of the Auror Corps." Interrupted a stern-looking woman on his right. "If there were any indications of this, we would have increased our presence as much as we could with our limited numbers."

"Thank you, director," Robards said, standing at attention, "Addressing our Minister's questions; I have no idea as to what this attack was supposed to mean. This clearing is directly under where the mark is centred." He said as the newcomers looked up at the ghostly skull above them. "Matter of fact, we found who we suspect to be the caster just over there, where Aurors Dawlish and Franks are searching and securing the scene." He said gesturing over his shoulder.

"And who is this suspect then Robards?" Fudge demanded.

"We found her under an invisibility cloak, Auror Dawlish fell over her." He explained as he pointed towards Winky still on the floor.

"Really Amelia? Is this what the DMLE has come to? These are supposed to be two of the best in our country and they've arrested a house elf for casting the dark mark." Fudge blustered, "Is it even possible for an elf to cast it?"

"Uncertain as of yet sir, but we do know whose elf it was directly under the mark," Williamson added.

"Oh, yes? Pray tell, whose is this elf?"

"Barty Crouch senior."

The words rang in the air. Bartemius Crouch Sr. the man who had led the DMLE through the last years of the war. Until his son had been outed as a Death Eater and carted off to Azkaban with the Lestranges by his own father.

The silence was broken suddenly by a shout.

"Found it!" Dawlish announced as he exited the bushes before stopping short as he saw the new arrivals. "Oh, uh, Minister, Madam Director"

"Found what Dawlish?" Fudge questioned.

"A wand sir, it was right around where I found the elf." He answered.

"Good, bring it here, I'll check if it was the one," Williamson called over.

"Hem hem." Came an annoyingly sweet, fake cough, from behind who Harry finally recognised as Madam Bones. "I do rather think the Auror Corps has created enough problems for wizarding Britain tonight. Surely it would be better to get-"

Robards, quite clearly aggravated, interrupted the very short and very pink woman who stepped out into view of Harry before she could finish.

"Madam Umbridge, as much as the Minister may value his secretary's point of view, this is an official DMLE investigation, and your opinion is not important here. If it were Madam Bones, I would take her view into consideration as she is an expert. You, however, are not. So if you don't mind, I would ask you to stop interfering in our investigation before I consider an arrest."

"Now see here Robards, there's no need to be so hostile or make threats." Fudge butted in.

"I disagree, Cornelius." Madam Bones stopped him from building up steam, "My captains wish to carry out their investigation. You yourself awarded them medals at the end of the war after that situation in Merseyside and gave a speech about them. These are two of my finest aurors and Miss Umbridge is merely your secretary, she has no experience of these matters and no reason to be involved. While I admit an arrest would be an escalation, it is perfectly within Captain Robards' rights to warn her of such a possible event."

"Rights can be changed, Director Bones."

"That may be so, but not here or now. As it is, there is no more discussion to be had." She said, staring down Fudge before he said something, while Umbridge fumed.

Robards meanwhile, had moved over to Dawlish and Williamson where after a few muttered incantations a smaller dark mark appeared from the tip of the wand. Dispelling the spell, Williamson turned to the group.

"This definitely cast it," he said looking pointedly at Umbridge. "We just need to find out whose wand it is. I'll talk to Ollivander in the morning."

"So it looks like Crouch's elf cast the dark mark. But why?" Madam Bones spoke up.

"Ask her yourself," Harry spoke up, surprising most of the adults that they were even there.

"Mr Potter, what are you doing here?" Fudge asked, all smiles and handshakes. "Robards, surely this isn't the place for children."

"No, minister, but they were all here when we arrived. Mr Potter and Ms Flanth arrived shortly before we did, the others were here when the mark went up. They were here answering questions when you arrived."

"Which is why I don't think Winky did it." Hermione decided this was the time to defend the house elf. "The voice that we heard; it was too deep to be a house elf. It sounded like a man."

"Is that so? And why should we believe you? Children tell lies so often. Besides you are no 'expert on the matter' are you miss-?"

"Actually, Miss Umbridge, she is a material witness, by definition an expert. And, if she so permits, veritaserum can be used to ascertain the truth in court." Williamson pointed out, much to Umbridges disdain.

"I- why. How is it that I Dolores, Umbridge, senior undersecretary to the minister, and pureblood am disregarded but the word of not just a child, but a filthy little-"

She suddenly stopped, when she realised she was staring down the shaft of a wand.

"I would be very careful with what you say next miss Underbridge," Harry said in a low voice, fire in his eyes. "Or you might find yourself losing your tongue. If you get my meaning."

"Mr Potter, I rather think you would be better off lowering your wand before you find yourself in trouble." Madam Bones suggested. "While Miss Umbridge may not be pleasant, it is not worth the time in a cell to curse her."

"No, it's not. But I will have an apology from her before I let this go." Harry agreed, holstering his wand.

It was only then that he realised that the Hit-Wizards had all drawn their wands and were in the process of lowering them. They had only held their fire because Harry was the Boy-who-lived and both the Minister, director of the DMLE and children were in the line of fire.

Their dislike of Umbridge and hope she would do something may have also played a part, not that any would acknowledge it.

Madam Bones, for her part, had seen the look in the last Potter's eyes as he levelled his wand at the unbearable woman. What she had seen there, shocked her, despite her cool demeanour.

That boy looked as though he would have done what he promised without hesitation. It was a look she only found in her best Aurors and the HWC, the look of a killer.

Robards and Williamson, for their part, had seen the same and already knew, that Harry Potter would be their priority candidate to recruit. He was clearly prepared to follow up his words with actions, something the Auror Corps needed now that Mad-eye Moody had been forced into retirement for actually hexing Umbridge for insulting him for his actions in a raid on the Selwyn's home.

In fairness, it was stupid to expect him to be gentle when searching the house of the man who took his leg. But even stupider to expect to get away with insulting his father's choice in wife and death, muggle-born and fighting a war respectively.

At the moment the DMLE was lacking in recruits as they were in the period where the people coming of age were all born during the war. Already the second years and incoming firstie class at Hogwarts were each three times as big as the years above them.

But for now, numbers were extremely low and with budget cuts every year, the department was slowly losing effectiveness. The majority of their recruits were either purebloods who did that sort of thing, like the Moodys, or muggle-borns, who couldn't get any other work in magical Britain.

People like Harry Potter could help boost numbers. A lot, judging by his near cult following. They just had to get to him before the HWC did or the DOM, rumour had it they had a secret group of assassins to do work for the department. Well, that's what the Quibbler said anyway, so it was a thirty/seventy chance against that it was true.

He was snapped out of his thoughts, by Umbridge disapparating rather than apologise.

"Hmph, no bloody honour," Harry muttered to a snort of amusement from Williamson. "My apologies for that minister, director, Aurors, Hit-Wizards. But I won't stand for such bigotry, especially not in front of me or about my friends."

"Yes, well. I must go too I'm afraid, got to manage the public reaction, find out the, ahem, death toll. Let the world know we have this under control." Fudge explained before he and his entourage disapparated.

"Fucking idiot," Harry grumbled, prompting sniggers from his friends, bar Hermione. The aurors and Hit-Wizards also seemed to agree judging by their barely contained snorts.

"Language, Harry!" Hermione berated. "And do you know how stupid that was, drawing your wand on a ministry official? Fudges aurors and those other wizards were ready to cut you down, Harry."

"Hermione, they wouldn't have done anything more than incapacitate. Besides, we all knew what she was going to say."

"That's beside the point Harry, if you drew your wand on every person who insulted me, half of Britain's most important people would be amongst them. No matter how sweet I find it, I'd rather you didn't die doing it."

"I reckon I could deal with most of them." Harry riposted, prompting Amelea to slap him on the back of the head. "Not that I'll find out, of course." He corrected himself.

"Better,"

The others just looked confusedly at the pair, none had expected Harry to take a slap lying down, let alone correct himself because of it.

"My my, Gred, it seems our little firecracker here has been domesticated."

"Hmm, why yes, indeed Forge. Mine nose doth also detect some tension of the sexual kind there."

"Indeed, perhaps these two should go and- Oi!"

"That's quite enough of that from you two." Amelea interrupted with a stinging hex, "Besides if I were you, I would focus on the same tension between your sibling and Miss Granger." She finished with a smirk. This left Ginny, Fred, George and Harry looking in somewhat horror at the now fiercely blushing pair. Percy just ignored them, still shaken by the revelations about his boss.

"We really, really didn't want that mental image."

"Yeah, you couldn't maybe obliviate us all could you?"

"Obliviate you of what?" Mr. Weasley asked as he approached.

"Oh, uh, nothing Dad. Don't worry." Ron said quickly. Mr Weasley didn't seem to buy it, but let it slide.

"Alright, the aurors have told me they'll come and take our statements later. They want us out of their crime scene." He said as he started leading the group back towards the campsite.

The site itself was still in a bad way. There were still several fires burning, and law enforcement officials were still swarming, there even seemed to be some foreign aurors present. Harry spotted the light blue robes of French aurors, mossy green-robed Irish aurors, and even the odd navy-robed German auror.

It made sense that there would be foreign aurors as this was a huge international event. The Irish were playing, and the French weren't that far away. Once it emerged that there had been a large attack on the Quidditch World Cup final, the government would need plenty of help. Whether it wanted said help or not was irrelevant, it was needed given the state Fudge had driven the DMLE to.

There were lots of body bags moving around. Too many to be only the Death Eaters.

"Bloody hell, they really did a number on the site huh?" Ron said. It was a sentiment everyone shared, it looked like hell on earth with the amount of scorched ground. Illuminated by the ghostly green glow from above and the still-burning fires, it didn't look good.

The ambience wasn't helped by the cries of the injured which rent the air every few seconds. No one said anything more as the group trudged over to their tent, packing it up with a flick of Arthur's wand. Amalea left them just before the portkey checkpoint to go and check her own tent and let her parents know she was fine.

When they got back to the burrow, Mrs Weasley was at the door waiting for them and upon seeing them coming over the brow of the hill, came running over. Once she had finished giving out rib-crushing hugs, ushered everyone inside.

Once she was sure they were okay, they were permitted to head to bed, it was after all four in the morning. And, despite his body's need for sleep, Harry couldn't. His thoughts were swirling in his head.

He had not only taken the lives of several Death Eaters, but he had also had his own taken from him. By all rights, there should have been another body bag to be taken to the DMLE morgue. Another body for the slab. Another name on the list of dead. His.

But why, why had he been granted this second chance? He knew that Death wanted Voldemort dead, but why him? Why couldn't the powers that be just let him live his life? He had no wish to save the world.

'Then why go after the Death Eaters?'

Harry huffed as he rolled onto his side to stare at the wall. His thoughts had a point though, why did he? Harry had killed several men mere hours earlier, sure he could have used stunners and other non-lethal spells, he probably should have if he believed Fudge and Dumbledore. But he knew that wouldn't have done anything to stop them.

They would have simply cast a counter-curse, then a killing curse. No, they had learned that lesson in the war. Here, an eye for an eye was the way forward. Sure, some would die, but in the long run… In the long run, their deaths would be for the greater good.

'Really? The greater good? Who are you fucking Grindelwald?'

Fucks sake, his subconscious was really going to town tonight, wasn't it. No, not like Grindelwald. Their efforts, while they may prove fatal, would save countless lives. A Death Eater can't hurt your family if he is lying dead in a ditch with his comrades.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Prophet the next day had obviously had a field day.

Attack on Quidditch World Cup final!

Minister lays blame solely on Auror and Hit-Wizard Corps

Geoffrey Daleton in Dartmoor, England

Last night in the early hours of the morning, there was a major disturbance across several of the campsites for the Quidditch World Cup final game between Ireland and Bulgaria. The game, which finished after only an hour of play, went in Ireland's favour 170-160. For a full report, turn to the sports section.

According to eye-witnesses, multiple groups of assailants were reported to arrive at Campsite Nr. 1 just past midnight after the game. They were reported to have abducted the muggle campsite owners before attacking the campsite itself. It is estimated that up to seventy people took part in the attack across campsite Nrs. 1-3 with the majority centred on the first site.

In the main attack, witnesses report seeing spells flying from apparently nowhere against the attackers. This invisible defender could have neutralised between 4 and 15 of the attackers, leaving several dead or grievously wounded.

As was the tactic of the feared Death Eaters of the wizarding war not 15 years ago, the infamous Dark Mark was cast above the forest near the campsite. The mark was last seen on 30 October 1981, the day before the fall of the Dark Lord. It was cast wherever Death Eaters had killed someone as a calling card of sorts.

Despite the best efforts of the wider public and eventually the DMLE, the civilian death toll is believed to be in the range of 27-60 dead and 50-100 wounded in some way by the attacks. The response time for the DMLE was approximately 20 minutes from the first reports to the arrival of the bulk of aurors and Hit-Wizards.

As a reminder, at the height of the war against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the average response time was a little over four minutes. Despite their appalling response time, the DMLE says it was able to apprehend over a dozen suspects at the scene. These suspects, however, were all neutralised by brave members of the public or off-duty officers as the attackers had fled at the sign of the mark, well before any ministry forces arrived.

There has been much outrage about the state of our security services from those in the ministry and the wider community. The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, had the following to say at a press conference earlier this morning.

"I, as we all are, am shocked and appalled by the efforts of the Auror Corps and Hit-Wizard Corps. Not only did they fail to uncover the plot and take preventative measures, but their reaction time was all but useless.

Almost every. Single. Arrest made here today was due to the actions of the wizarding public. When I arrived on the scene, I was summoned to the site of the Dark Mark and found not only Hogwarts students present, but also Auror Captains Robards and Williamson, arresting a house elf for casting the mark.

Now, I can assure you, I will do my damnedest to see the Auror Corps weeded of its incompetence and corruption. If needs be, I shall have their budget slashed to force the slackers out of their positions.

The Hit-Wizard Corps, likewise was all but pointless during the attack, they did nothing to attempt to track the attackers, combat the flames still burning, or control the panicking crowds. Captain Meadowes, upon questioning, claimed that they were ordered to the scene but not told what to do. This led to their presence with Captains Robards and Williamson at the scene of the mark.

It is my firm belief that a full reshuffle of the DMLE is in order. Had the different offices and Corps of our security services done their job, there would be dozens fewer body bags heading to our morgue."

Since then, a DMLE spokesperson has spoken with the prophet and said this.

"The DMLE deeply regrets the deaths of those murdered in the assault last night. However, we resent the accusation that this was solely the fault of the Auror Corps and Hit-Wizard Corps. With our manpower deficit, we were forced to call on reinforcements from Ireland and France, adding the sheer lack of money available to the department, and we really couldn't have done much more.

Since 1982, the DMLE has had its budget decreased by 1500% we can barely fund training for what few recruits we get, let alone undercover operations or new equipment. Add to the lack of on-duty aurors due to the World Cup game and the requirement for any large movement of personnel to go through the Minister's office and you have a lethal combination.

We also strongly object to the minister's accusations of corruption and incompetence, several of our best, including the three named by the minister, were on duty and carried out the arrests of multiple attackers. While we can disclose little about an ongoing investigation, we can confirm the deaths of eight attackers, six of whom were suspected of Death Eater activity prior to this event. We can also confirm that we have detained fourteen individuals in relation to the attack last night.

To anyone who may seek to emulate the actions of these individuals, know this: while the DMLE cannot use lethal force, there are people out there who can as shown last night when eight assailants died and another six suffered permanent injuries. Whether vigilantes or our Hit-Wizards, someone will find you. So decide now, will you do it? Or will you choose to not meet your end at the end of a wand?"

As our readers can see the DMLE went on the defensive about the incident, before threatening any who would oppose them. In addition to their implicit approval of not only lethal force but also vigilantism…

Fred and George let out a low whistle as they broke off from reading the recently arrived Prophet.

"Merlin, they really went for the aurors."

"They really weren't that bad."

"They were actually quite good considering."

"Once they got there."

"Not necessarily their fault though."

"Right."

Silence reigned in the kitchen of the burrow, as the rest of the Weasleys, Hermione and Harry focused on their food. Until Ginny broke the silence.

"Who d'you reckon got the Death Eaters? They said they found eight of them dead."

"Ginny!" Mrs Weasley exclaimed, shooting a glare at her only daughter.

"What? I was just wondering."

"I'm pretty sure Katie's dad got one or two," Harry said, much to everyone's surprise. "What? I saw him fighting like three of them and he won, got at least one."

"Oh my god Harry, I'm so sorry you had to see that," Hermione gasped as she wrapped her arms around Harry.

"Well, it's not the first time I've seen someone die. And I'd rather those three purebloods than Katie and her family."

"What do you mean not the first time?"

"Quirrell, Tom Riddle, Voldemort too, I imagine." Harry left out what he'd done the day before and what he'd seen his grandfather do in the pensive. Even so, the statement left a shocked silence, of course, most knew about the incidents in question, but simply never thought about what Harry might have seen.

Or even done, Hermione suspected Harry was keeping something quiet. She just chose to inquire later.

"Harry-"

"No, it's fine, it was deserved each time."

That seemed to work and Harry quickly finished his breakfast, before standing up and explaining that he had to get back to London.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Upon his return to the Potter home in London, Harry found several letters addressed to him. As he picked them up, he saw that one had Katie's handwriting on it. Already prepared for the telling-off he was going to get, he set it aside for later.

The next one was from Luna, checking if he was alright after the happenings the previous night. Although she seemed to somehow know he was alright, assuming he was interpreting her wording right.

Harry quickly penned her a letter assuring her he was fine, and asking if she was. Though she probably was if she was writing him letters, something Harry realised once he had sealed up the envelope.

Shrugging, he moved onto the next letter, a letter in neat, formal handwriting. Curiously, Harry broke the seal of a law firm on the back, opening the letter. As he read it, he felt his pulse quicken. The writer, Mr John Wambroves, the black family lawyer, had written him regarding Sirius' trial, or lack thereof.

He also informed Harry that Arcturus Black, the current lord, was interested in meeting him. That was a surprise and a half, Harry had thought Arcturus Black to be dead.

Ever since the mid-eighties, the Blacks hadn't been seen in public for years. The last time was when Arcturus was ambushed in Knockturn Alley in an attack including his daughter-in-law, he dispatched of several attackers, before a pair of patrolling aurors intervened, capturing another three.

Inspecting the injured, Arcturus discovered Walburga Black bleeding out on the floor. He portkeyed her away and since, none of the blacks had been seen in public. Everyone believed them to have died off since, not helped by Lucius Malfoy's claim to the lordship via his son Draco.

This was primarily why Harry had written to the Black family lawyer and account manager. Either he would stop Malfoy from gaining yet more wealth and power, or he would know for sure that it was safe. Or he would find himself being obliterated for 'line theft'.

It was a win-win-lose situation. Besides it was too late now. He was going to have to deal with his decisions.

Harry had been invited to a meal/meeting in mid-October, the letter would be a portkey at seven in the evening and would bring him to Lord Black's residence.

Knowing there was no way to avoid the meeting, Harry went to find his dress robes and memorise his food detection spells. The Black family was known for its cunning and ruthlessness, something Harry wasn't looking forward to being on the receiving end of. Especially if he might have angered Lord Black.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Hogwarts Express raced through the English countryside. No matter how often Harry took the journey, he never ceased to find it almost transfixing. How the red train could move with such speed and yet you could still observe the world just slip on by.

Well, today it was miserable weather, he couldn't really see much of anything, but at least things were peaceful. He and Ron were chatting with Neville about the World Cup and Hermione was, of course, reading.

Just as Ron was talking about the Top Box, Malfoy made his annual appearance.

"And you'll never be in one again Weasel-Bee," he snarked.

"Don't remember asking you to join us pisshead." Harry riposted, causing Ron and Neville to snigger and the others to narrow their eyes at Harry.

"How dare you, Potter!" Malfoy spat, "I am your better and you will address me as such."

"Malfoy, last I checked, being a Potter was worth more than being a Malfoy, we at least earned our wealth and power. Not just marry for it before suddenly losing a spouse, isn't that why the French Malfoys are hated by the Belleroses? One of your lot, a shit-shoveler if I'm not mistaken, married into the family, before his wife suddenly died, leaving him half the family fortune. They recovered, but never forgave the act."

Malfoy reddened in anger and embarrassment.

"That was never proven," he hissed, "At least my father has power, which is more than can be said for you four. He knows things, that aren't public."

"Carefully Malfoy, the Potters and Longbottoms carry plenty of weight in their own right, surpassing your own and equal, respectively. Just because we haven't bribed the minister, doesn't mean we don't know anything." Neville argued back again causing Malfoy to redden.

"Besides," Harry started, "I have a few surprises up my sleeve, including some of Britain's oldest families." He finished with a feral grin.

"Please, you probably don't even know Britain's oldest families" Malfoy rolled his eyes.

"Well, the smiths, the Boots, the Potters, Blacks, Longbottoms, Gaunts, Notts…"

"And yet you probably don't even know what's happening this year." Malfoy riposted, confident in his assumption.

"The Tri-Wizard tournament?" Harry suggested, his nonchalance being the last straw for Malfoy, who stormed off, followed by his bodyguards.

"The what?" Hermione asked.

"Tri-Wizard tournament," Harry answered. "they're reinstating it for some stupid reason." Seeing the others' confusion Harry continued, "It's a competition between Durmstrang, Beauxbatons and Hogwarts. Each school gets a champion and the champions then compete to win. The hosting school always rotated between the three, this time it's Hogwarts. They abolished it around two hundred years ago after all three champions, twenty-six watching students and all three headmasters died when a cockatrice broke free."

"And they want to bring it back?" Hermione questioned, "Why?"

"International magical co-operation." Ron answered, "That's why Percy's been so busy."

"Besides, they're introducing new rules to make it safer," Harry said.

"Where do you know all this Harry?" Neville asked, not even Gran knows about the new rules."

"Ah, well I had an… interesting dinner with the Lovegoods over the holidays. Xeno knows a hell of a lot of random information. I mean there was a lot of stuff which is unsubstantiated, like the crumple-horned-snorkack, and I'm pretty sure there was a hallucinogen of sorts in the soup, but otherwise, it was quite nice."

The others were looking at Harry as though he had lost his mind.

"You were invited to have dinner with Xenophilius Lovegood and remembered it?"

"How do you know old Xeno?"

"What do you mean Hallucinogen?"

"Huh? One at a time people. Neville, then Ron then Hermione. Yeah, what? Isn't that normal?"

"No, people meet Xeno often, and he's a bit odd. But when he invites them to dinner, they somehow never remember what happened after the soup. There was a big trial a while back where he was accused of all manner of things, he swore a magical oath he had never harmed or touched any of them or done any of what he was accused of. He lived and could do magic, so he was let go, it's a big mystery how he does it, no one has ever detected any potions or anything in his soups."

"Wow, okay, weird," Harry said the other nodding along. "And Ron, Luna wrote to me over the holidays and eventually she invited me over. Hermione; I don't know, everything is a bit woozy from then onwards."

Harry could tell Hermione's mind was racing trying to process everything she had heard. Neville however interrupted any further discussion by suggesting that they change into their robes and as they had left it so late, they pulled into the station shortly thereafter.

As they attempted to navigate their way down the soaking slopes to the carriages from the station, Harry couldn't help but hit Malfoy with a trip jinx, sending him sliding uncontrollably down the hill alongside the path.

He then put his wand to better use, conjuring a slab of granite to cover his, Ron's, Hermione's and Neville's heads, this shielded them from the worst of the rain until they reached the thestral-drawn carriages.

He knew of thestrals, he had discovered them when reading a book about the Potter family penned by his grandfather, apparently, there were several on each Potter property which had forest on it.

He hadn't expected to see them here, but with the rain pouring, he wasn't going to hang around until everyone else could see them due to his death of the cold.

The trip back up to the castle was uneventful, and the sorting too for the most part, apart from seeing Colin's younger brother who had it seemed, fallen into the lake in the rough weather, but been put back on his boat by the giant squid.

The meal too was uneventful, aside from Hermione's discovery of elf labour in the castle. Sometimes the girl really was too set in her muggle ways. Elves, after all, liked working, to the point of love, and depriving of them was just as bad as it would be forcing Ron to go without food. He would have to get her to talk to Baldrick, maybe then she'd understand.

Harry was shaken from his musing by the sound of the doors to the great hall slamming open with a crash. Immediately he had his wand in hand and aimed at the newcomer. The man was wearing a thick travelling cloak and as he pulled his hood back, most of the hall broke out in whispering. The man's face was scarred beyond belief, every square inch had a blemish of sorts. Half his nose was missing and where his left eye should have been, there was an electric blue one, which whizzed around in its socket.

At that moment it was trained on Harry, more specifically his drawn wand. He gave a barely perceptible nod, the corners of what was once his mouth twitching upward before he looked to Dumbledore and approached him, every second step a resounding clunk from his wooden foot.

"Bloody hell, that's Mad-Eye Moody!" Ron whispered. Harry had come across the Moodys in his research, they were a family with a proclivity for fighting, each and every male having served as an Auror or Hit-Wizard. Three Moodys had died in the war against Grindelwald and another against Voldemort. Their high mortality rate was part of the reason each Moody had three or four siblings.

What he was doing here, was anyone's guess, but Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody was known to be one of the best fighters in Britain, hence the scars. Several were from Grindelwald himself; the man had faced off against the infamous dark lord in the weeks prior to his capitulation.

Moody reached the staff table, greeting Dumbledore and moving to take the seat of the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. This set off another wave of whispering across the hall which died down as Dumbledore stood to speak.

"Now that we have all sated our bellies, I have a few start-of-year announcements to make. Firstly the Forbidden Forest is, as its name suggests, forbidden to entry by students." As he said this, he looked at the Weasley twins who were making innocent faces at him, "Secondly, I would like to announce a change to the staff. Joining us for this year from the Auror Corps, we have Alastor Moody. He will be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts." He let the whispers once again wash over the hall, knowing that the students would be excited to learn from an ex-Auror.

"Thirdly, Hogwarts will this year be playing host to the Tri-Wizard tournament." This caused the largest wave of whispering, to the point where it was as noisy as at mealtimes. As it abated, the headmaster continued, "For those not in the know, the Tri-Wizard tournament is a competition between Europe's premier magical schools: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons Academy, and Durmstrang Institute. I will spare you the history lesson and allow you to research things of your own accord. Each of the schools will be bringing their seventh years, along with a selection of students of younger age groups in the name of more international cooperation. There will be, instead of the inter-house quidditch cup, a separate cup where our house teams will play each other and teams from the other schools."

The final part of the announcement gained the most interest from the students. After all, it meant more quidditch with as-yet-unseen players.

"Now off to bed with you all! Pip-pip!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As the Gryffindors and Slytherins filed into the DADA classroom for their first defence lesson, they found Professor Moody waiting for them before his desk, with a spider in a glass jar behind him.

As Harry and Ron took seats near the front, next to Hermione and Neville, Moody began the lesson.

"Books away, you won't be needing them here. Now, from what I understand, you have a good grounding in dealing with magical creatures, grindylows, red kaps, hinkypunks and werewolves." This elicited a nod from the class, "But your knowledge is severely lacking in curses, so I'll be teaching you about what wizards can do to each other. Now what are the curses most punishable in Britain?"

Several hands went up and Moody pointed at Tracey Davis, a half-blood Slytherin, the only in their year.

"The unforgivable curses."

"Right, now who can tell me any of the big three? Yes, you, Weasley."

"My dad told me about the Imperius Curse."

"Yes, well, he'd know, that one caused the ministry a lot of trouble a few years back. During the blood war, many people were placed under the curse, and afterwards, many more were pardoned on account of their claims of being under it." as he said that, his magical eye swivelled over towards the Slytherins, specifically Malfoy's group. "Bunch of bloody fucking cowards, that lot."

He then opened the jar and extracted the spider within before pointing his wand at it.

"Imperio."

The spider then abseiled off his finger, connected by a strand of webbing. He then had it swing and flip onto his desk before forcing it to tapdance, causing several to start laughing.

"Think it's funny, do you? What if I did it to you?" he said, instantly quelling any laughter. "Total control, that is what the Imperius curse is, I could force the victim to kill their own family, to drown themself, to jump off a building, to blow themselves up in a meeting. That's why you need CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

The entire class jumped at his sudden shout.

He then removed the curse, looking around. "Another curse. You. Longbottom, right?"

"Well, there's this one- the Cruciatus curse," he said quietly, almost in a whisper. Harry felt a stab of sympathy for the boy; he had found out about the fate of Neville's parents over the summer. No one deserved such a fate, least of all the Longbottoms.

Moody, however, nodded, "Correct. The torture curse, it too was prevalent in the blood war, even the occasional Auror used it as a method of stopping fleeing Death Eaters."

He then once again, took aim at the spider in his hand.

"Crucio!"

Immediately, the spider twitched violently, rolling onto its back with its legs curled underneath. It wasn't making any sound, but Harry suspected if it could, it would be screaming. It was sickening to see, especially with Professor Moody's normal eye glinting in excitement.

"Stop it!" Hermione called out in a shrill voice, causing everyone to look over. Next to her, Neville was gripping his desk, knuckles white, a tear rolling down his cheek. Moody then lifted the curse.

"if you know the Cruciatus curse, you don't need thumbscrews or knives, just restraint. Then you can find out anything you want from anyone. The last one? You, Granger."

"Avada Kedavra, the killing curse." She said.

"Right, the final one. Two words and anything it touches dies. Completely unblemished, with no visible damage to the body. You're dead before you hit the floor. Always works, except once…" Moody explained, looking straight at Harry. He then placed the spider on his desk, where it seemed resigned to its fate.

"Avada Kedavra!"

And with a whooshing sound and a jet of sickly green light, the spider was dead on the table.

"I'll want eight inches on each unforgivable for next lesson!" Moody shouted as the bell rang for the end of the lesson.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville lined up outside the great hall for lunch the next day, Malfoy came running up from behind them; the Daily Prophet clutched in his hands and a gleeful expression on his face.

"Hey Weasel-Bee! Your father's in the paper!" he shouted across the entrance hall before reading out a story by Rita Skeeter.

The story itself was little more than a smear piece against the ministry, more specifically Mr Weasley, and Professor Moody.

"They've even included a picture of your parents in front of their house, if you can call it that." Malfoy sneered, "Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

Hermione and Neville grabbed hold of the back of Ron's robes to prevent him from tackling Malfoy, while Harry dropped his book bag and stalked up to Malfoy.

"And your mum Malfoy, that look on her face, like she's got shit smeared under her nose, was she always like that? Or was it just because she was with you and your father?"

"Don't insult my mother, Potter!"

"Then keep your gob shut dickwad."

Malfoy made to grab his wand, but Harry beat him to it, snapping his own up against Draco's neck.

"Do it, I dare you," Harry whispered. "Either shut your face or grow some." He said before turning around and moving back to the others. As he approached them, he saw, Hermione flinch as something moved behind him.

The shield he erected sent the spell from Malfoy careening off into the ceiling as several people screamed. As he spun around, he watched as a second flew wide of him and hit the nearby Hannah Abbott.

Harry's wand was upwards, a stunning spell on his lips, as Malfoy suddenly disappeared, in his place, a pure white ferret looking around confusedly.

That was when Moody appeared through the crowd.

"Oh no you don't!" he shot at Ferret-Malfoy, "I don't like people who curse their opponents in the back." He then turned to Harry, who was casting the counter-curse on Hannah and helping her up. "He get you, lad?"

Harry shook his head, "No I shielded the first one, second hit Hannah. Rather unpleasant nausea-inducing hex, favourite of fixers to separate their marks from groups. Probably learned it from his father or his fathers friends."

"Aye well- Oh no you don't!" he shouted as the ferret made a break for the dungeons. He then lifted it three metres before bouncing the ferret off the floor, each time to punctuate a word in an admonishment.

"Professor Moody!" said a shocked voice from the staircase, "What on earth are you doing?"

"Teaching," Moody answered unconcernedly.

"Teach- Moody is that a student?" she shrieked.

"Yep,"

"No! We never use transfiguration as a punishment! Surely Dumbledore would have told you that?"

"He might have mentioned it, but I figured a good, sharp shock-" Moody said scratching his chin boredly.

Professor McGonagall then cast a spell, leaving Malfoy lying in a heap on the floor, his hair in disarray.

"If you must punish a student, you give them detention or speak to their head of house."

"Alright, I'll do that then, been meaning to have a good chat with old Snape. Come on you."

Malfoy then said something that sounded very much like 'My father-'

"You tell your father boy, I know him too. I don't particularly care for him, but I've raided his home enough that he's had the chance to be a real dick about it so yes, tell him. I couldn't care less."

And with that, they marched down the corridor and out of sight.

"Thanks, Harry," Hannah said quietly as they got back in line to get into the great hall.

"You're welcome," he said back with a smile as they entered and split ways.

"Bloody love Moody," Ron said as he happily plopped down on a bench next to Harry. Hermione didn't even have the heart to criticise his vague, semi-profanity. In fairness, she was busy inhaling her food as fast as possible, causing the other three to look at her in confusion.

"Is this your new strategy to free the elves?" Neville asked, "Making yourself sick?" she shook her head.

"Library?" Ron asked. She nodded.

"But to do with the elves?" she nodded and Harry sighed, "Hermione, you do know they don't want to be free or get paid or anything like that, right?"

She shook her head, swallowed and then took a deep breath but Harry cut her off.

"I respect what you're trying to do, but believe me, they won't thank you. In fact, this evening, meet us in our dorm. You'll understand afterwards what I mean." He then shot a look at Neville and mouthed, 'introduce your elf'. Neville then nodded in understanding.

The rest of the day passed by quickly, and before long, the three boys found themselves waiting on Hermione, Harry had already called Baldrick, and Neville had called his family's elf, Toppy.

Hermione then appeared in the doorway, she entered slowly looking accusingly at Harry and Neville as she spotted the elves.

"Before you accuse us of cruelty or anything else, just hear us out okay? Think of it as a lesson," Harry suggested. When she nodded and took a seat on Ron's bed, he continued. "This is Baldrick, he is one of my family's several elves. His entire life he's been around the Potters, he even grew up with my family and is as good as part of it. He would die to protect me, and I would for him."

"And Toppy here is much the same, she has always cared for me, and I consider her family." Neville started. "If we were to set either of these elves free, it would be like severing those ties and like throwing everything in their faces. It would be like kicking your cousin or sister out of the family."

"That alone could lead to a downward spiral and even suicide for an elf. But the other key part is that they have a bond with their owner, that bond keeps them alive, andwithout it, they can die. The only reason Dobby isn't is because Hogwarts has so much ambient magic that he could survive until he bonded to me over summer."

"What abou-"

"Pay?" Harry finished for her. "that's why these two are here, ask them any question you want, they'll be honest with you."

Baldrick was the first to respond to the question; he was practically affronted. "Pay? No, Baldrick isn't being wanting of money. What would I's be doing with money? If I be needings somethings, I be askings master, he then be's getting me what I need or to get the money I be needings from the vault."

"Sames here, we's no wanting money. We's only wanting to work, the more the better." Toppy added.

"Pensions?" Hermione asked.

Baldrick shook his head vigorously.

"No. No, no no. We's work till we can't or we's die. We's wanting to."

Hermione continued to talk to the elves for another hour or so until all of her possible grievances were assuaged. By that time, it was late and the other two had fallen asleep, leaving just Harry and Hermione awake, Seamus and Dean had also arrived and fallen asleep in the meantime, albeit slightly awkwardly, what with Hermione in the room.

Harry walked down with Hermione until the two staircases met in the common room. As he bid her goodnight, she stopped him, enveloping him in a hug.

"I really almost messed up Harry, I was going to knit clothes and hide them around the common room so the elves cleaning would be set free."

"Hey, don't worry, they would've noticed the clothes, I reckon."

"I could have killed them, Harry."

"But you didn't. And that's what matters. Now, maybe let go, people are staring." He finished with a slight grin. Hermione blushed realising what it could look like, her coming down with him from the dorms, especially so late.

It certainly didn't help that Fred and George both wolf-whistled loudly at them, with Harry throwing them a one-finger salute behind Hermione's back.

"Go on, sleep." He said before turning around and heading back up to his calling bed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I shouldn't have asked Lavender if I could see her Uranus," Ron grumbled.

Harry, Ron and Neville were just finishing work on their Divination homework. Ron was due to be trampled by a hippogriff in a month's time, Neville would find himself flying in a thunderstorm, and Harry was going to be immolated on his broom by a dragon.

"Yeah, but to be fair, innocent mistake," Harry murmured as he added, decapitation the day before the dragon was scheduled.

"Nothing innocent about it," Neville chuckled, "We've all wanted to ask. He just had the guts to, I reckon she was actually considering it, though. She likes him." Harry hummed in agreement, but Ron just looked at them, all confused.

"Huh?"

Before either could do more than snigger, Professor McGonagall climbed through the portrait hole and announced that the school would be gathering on the front lawn.

As the trio dashed upstairs to grab their cloaks, they heard McGonagall shouting at the Weasley twins. It sounded like they were planning to offer the visitors some of their trick sweets.

"Those two are mental if they want to offer Durmstrang students any of those sweets," Neville remarked as they came back down the stairs. Both of the others nodded in agreement; they did rather like the twins, but sometimes, their sense of self-preservation failed to exist at all.

Lining up in front of the castle, the students were divided up by house and then by height. This meant that Harry, now among the taller in his year, found himself between Katie Bell and Lee Jordan.

"You alright there, Harry?" Katie asked him as the professors fussed over some of the sixth-years' appearances.

"Yeah, I'm good. You?" he answered, looking over at her.

"Yeah, I'm alright, looking forward to team tryouts tomorrow. Though I don't reckon we'll be challenged for our positions, we only need a new keeper."

"True, in fact, I think Ron was thinking about having a go."

"Well he is a Weasley, Charlie was like you on a broom, and from what I've heard, so was Bill Weasley. Percy is rather the exception in not playing Quidditch."

"When he plays with us at the Burrow, he's also pretty good though. He just didn't get the quidditch bug like we did." Harry explained. "Doesn't help that Bill would always throw surprise bludgers at him, and the twins also do it when they can."

"Ha, makes sense now." Katie laughed. "I am slightly concerned by the other teams though, they'll have some good players there. Beauxbatons takes in students everywhere west of Germany, and Durmstrang takes the rest. We'll be playing the best of Europe."

"And? We're the best of Britain. We've got things covered." Harry countered, bringing a grin to Katie's face.

"Got that right, short of Viktor Krum himself, you're near unstoppable as a seeker. All it takes is a dark lord, a basilisk or a dementor to stop you." She pointed out.

"Yeah… outside interference. We get a penalty."

"That's terrible. I shouldn't have laughed at that." Katie snorted, rolling her eyes.

"Oi lovebirds, shut up," a boy behind them snapped.

"Wilkins," Katie said dangerously, "How bout I shove my wand up yo-"

"Look, there they are!" someone shouted, pointing at a dot over the forbidden forest.

The dot was too large to be a broom or even a swarm of them, and as it grew larger, more observations rent the air.

"It's a dragon!"

"It's a flying horse!"

"It's a house!"

In reality, it was a large, light-blue carriage pulled by eight giant Abraxan horses. The carriage hit the ground with a violent bump, bouncing up several times before eventually sticking the landing and rolling forward. As it approached, the horses' size became more noticeable, each was five or six metres tall, pure white with their large wings folded back over their backs, and their blood-red eyes gleaming in the setting sun.

A door on the side of the carriage opened and a boy jumped down, before reaching inside and folding out some steps. He then jumped to the side and stood to attention, ramrod straight, his arms behind his back.

"I think someone actually stuck a wand up him." Katie breathed to Harry, wary of the nearby Madam Hooch. Harry passed off his laugh as a cough, but not enough for Hooch to remain unaware. She glared at him before looking back to the Beauxbatons carriage.

Harry looked back only to find that a woman the size of Hagrid had exited the carriage and was watching her students line up. There seemed to be around a hundred students by the time they'd all filed out of the carriage. Fifty or so looked like they were of age to compete in the tournament, the rest was a fairly even split between what must have been eleven-year-olds up to sixth-years.

"That many in one age group? Jesus." Katie muttered.

"Yeah, they didn't have a civil war to deal with. Could've helped us though," Harry whispered back.

"Bloody French." Wilkes chipped in from behind them.

"Wilkins, do you want two wands up your fucking-"

"Potter!" Madam Hooch said, hitting him with a weak stinging hex.

"Alright, alright, fucking hell," he grumbled to himself as Katie snickered next to him.

In the meantime, Dumbledore had conversed with the French headmistress, and she had begun to lead her students into the castle. As they passed, Harry noticed two students who looked disturbingly like Malfoy passing by, witha superior smirk on the boy's face and asimple indifferent look on the girl's.

"Are those Malfoy's long-lost cousins or something?" Katie asked, having seen the same pair.

"The French branch of the family I think," Harry replied, "They're still kind of dicks though, or so I've heard. They have several long-standing feuds, both inside and outside of France."

"Huh, must be a family trait." Katie mused. "It was impressive seeing you deal with Malfoy there though, nice of you to fix Hannah up too."

"Yeah well, the little prick was aiming for me, not Hannah. It's the least I could do."

"Where did you know the spell? Doesn't seem like one you'd come across in a normal book."

"It was in a book in my family library. The book was about hunting fugitives/enemies. The author was a former ICW Hit-Wizard, who went by the codename 'Nimrod', like the hunter from the Bible." Harry explained.

"Really? I've heard of him; he was one of the best there was, 'till he disappeared during the war on the continent. The official count was something close to a hundred captured and another thirty killed."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he joined the fighting. Probably for the ICW forces, maybe I could ask my great-grandfather's portrait, he led the British forces in the war."

"Maybe." Katie nodded before briefly pausing, "Harry, d'you reckon you could lend me that book? I kinda want to be an HW in Britain."

"Sure, one sec. Baldrick, grab the book by 'Nimrod' and put it on Katie Bell's bed. Thanks."

"Just like that?" Katie asked, surprised.

"Yeah, why would I say no?"

"To get her to- AH FUCK!" Wilkins butted in before shouting in pain as Harry silently hit his groin with a stinging hex.

"Wilkins!" Madam Hooch hissed in anger, "With me. Now."

Wilkins gingerly walked with her, his discomfort very much visible.

"Damn, Harry, remind me not to piss you off," Lee commented from next to him.

"Hey, at least it wasn't a bludgeoner or severing curse," Katie helpfully added, earning a wince from the boys around them.

"Woah, woah, Katie." Lee objected, "There are some things you shouldn't want for any man. Loss of even one of the bits there, let alone two or three, is top of that list." Many of the listening boys nodded in agreement.

"I dunno, some of those purebloods are up there." Harry pointed out, "Like the Lestranges or the elder Carrows." This got unanimous agreement, apart from McLaggen, who suddenly looked rather uncomfortable.

"There's the Durmstrang ship!" someone suddenly shouted, ending the discussion as everyone looked towards the lake. Sure enough, there was a mast and crow's nest breaking the surface of the lake. Then, the figure in the nest dived down, presumably into the ship. Shortly afterwards, the boat shot upwards, jumping clear out of the water before landing with a splash and gliding towards the stone dock on the bank nearest the school.

The ship itself was wooden and looked like those old ships used to explore the Americas in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. As it pulled up, several boys jumped out of a door halfway up the hull and began tying the boat up to the dock.

A wooden bridge was then shoved out of the open door, falling with a thud against the stone and providing a ramp for the students to walk down. In the low light, all Harry could make out was that the students seemed to be of a similar build to Crabbe and Goyle. They had vast shoulders and comparatively small heads to the rest of their bodies.

However, as they drew closer, it seemed it was just that they were wearing large, bulky winter clothes. They looked capable of going on an expedition to the Arctic. Their headmaster somewhat frostily greeted Dumbledore and then led his students towards the castle.

It was as they passed between the Gryffindors and Hufflepuff ranks that Harry noticed a familiar face in the middle of the pack of students.

"Wait isn't that Viktor Krum?" he asked.

"What? Bloody hell, it is!" Katie whispered back excitedly. "Haha, the poor dude will be swamped by fangirls."

"Yeah, rather him than me though," Harry muttered back.

"I reckon he'll say the same thing about you when you beat him on the pitch," Katie said.

Harry snorted amusedly, doubting he would beat Krum on the pitch.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." He said before slightly backtracking at Katie's glare, "Even if it's only because he has more experience."

The conversation was then interrupted as the Hogwarts contingents were shepherded towards the Great Hall. Having taken their seats, with the Beauxbatons students sitting at the Ravenclaw table and the Durmstrang students with the Hufflepuffs, Dumbledore rose from his throne-like seat.

"To our guests, welcome! I hope you will all have a comfortable and enjoyable stay." This caused one of the beauxbatons students, who still had a scarf wrapped around her head, to let out a derisive laugh, "The tournament shall open at the end of the feast, so without further ado, tuck in!"

As he finished, the tables became laden with food, aside from the usual fare, there was also a plenitude of food of continental origin. There were multiple stews, soups, pies and meat dishes which Harry couldn't at all or only vaguely recognise.

Deciding to throw caution to the wind, Harry tried as many of the dishes as he could. He found that the eastern European stews and dumplings were rather heavy, yet somehow comforting, whereas the French and Spanish food was much lighter and yet just as delicious.

"Excuse me," a voice said from over his shoulder, "Will you be wanting ze bouillabaisse?"

The voice belonged to the girl who had laughed earlier, she had removed the scarf, revealing silvery-blonde hair which fell to her waist. Her eyes were blue and slightly larger than normal, her teeth were very white and even, almost unnaturally so.

As Harry met her eyes, he felt a sudden desire to impress her, similar to the imperius curse but less demanding. Quickly squashing the desire, he levitated the bowl of stew over to her.

"No, have it," he said before turning back to Neville who had been talking about some Greek water grass called Gillyweed. The girl faltered momentarily at the lack of effect on Harry, especially compared to Ron who was having trouble breathing. "Oi Ron," Harry said, slapping the back of his head, as the girl walked away, "Snap out of it."

"Wazzat? Oh, um thanks, Harry." He mumbled confusedly before shrugging and diving back into his food with gusto.

"Harry, what just happened?" Hermione asked, looking around at the glazed eyes of the surrounding boys.

"I reckon the girl is at least part veela, they have that effect on men, and horny teenagers even more so, it seems," Harry explained as the boys started to recover.

"But not you?"

"No, I felt the effects, I just crushed it like throwing off the Imperius. I don't think she even meant to do it, if she really wanted me to, I reckon I would have significant trouble resisting even the weirdest shit a veela could ask me to do," he answered.

"But it's not like you would want to with a veela," Neville answered, getting weird looks from the others, "What? I'm assuming you've heard of the things veela are supposed to do."

"True." Ron said, "I definitely wouldn't object."

"Why? What are they supposed to do?" Hermione asked. Neville Ron and Harry then just looked at her, eyebrows raised until Hermione realised a moment later. "Ohh. OH! I- well- that kind of- it really shouldn't-"

The other three laughed as Hermione floundered, trying to keep her thoughts straight. Thankfully for her, that was when the plates cleared, and desserts took their place. Again there were many desserts that Harry had never seen before, from cakes to tarts to cheeses and even small bottles of alcohol.

He opted to go for a small custard-like tart in a short glass. Hermione told him it was a Crème brûlée and French. It was good, albeit not quite as good as a treacle tart.

As the chatter began to die down, Dumbledore once again stood, this time followed by Barty Crouch. They approached the lectern, and the hall fell silent.

"The moment has come. The Tri-Wizard tournament shall be opened shortly. The selection of the champions is quite simple," he then looked over to Filch, who hobbled over carrying a large jewel-encrusted chest. Dumbledore then tapped it three times with his wand and the lid creaked open. He then drew out a simple, wood-hewn goblet.

It would have been completely unremarkable if it wasn't filled with bright blue flames. The flames were dancing around, completely unperturbed by the aged wizard moving them.

"The Goblet of Fire. It is our impartial judge to select the champions. To enter, all one must do is write their name and school clearly on a piece of parchment and then throw it into the goblet." The entire Hall was paying rapt attention, many, such as Fred and George already working on how to enter themselves. "However, I must warn you. Once you have entered, there is no going back. Should your name exit the goblet on Halloween evening, you will be forced to compete. There is a binding magical contract in place from the moment you enter your name. Should you attempt to avoid competing, you would find your magic and possibly life to be forfeit." this caused a few dispersed mutterings across the hall, "Partly due to this, but also due to simple lack of ability by younger students, any participants must be seventeen or older." Again, muttering occurred but all had previously known this, so there was little of it, "I will be drawing an age line around the cup, which will be in the entrance Hall from now until Halloween in three weeks. This will prevent those under the age of seventeen from crossing it."

"Ha! An age line? That'll be tricked by an ageing potion easily." George said to his twin. Fred nodded along, albeit slightly distractedly, as one of the Beauxbatons girls made eye contact with him. Noticing his distraction, George just sniggered and looked over at Harry, rolling his eyes.

"Once selected, the champions will face three challenges across the school year, they will also be exempt from final exams and lesson attendance will become optional. To those who wish to enter, I wish you good luck!"

"Once selected, the champions will face three challenges across the school year, they will also be exempt from final exams and lesson attendance will become optional. To those who wish to enter, I wish you good luck. Now off to bed with you all!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, Fred, George, and Lee came charging down the stairs into the entrance hall to loud cheers from most of the Hogwarts students present. Harry, Ron and Neville were amongst them, whilst Hermione just rolled her eyes and huffed.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Fred announced, "We proudly present the soon-to-be Hogwarts champion! Who will it be? Lee Jordan, Hogwarts' quidditch expert and commentator, skilled in potions and transfiguration and one of the Pride of Lions' finest!" Lee raised his hands to more cheering.

"Or will it be George Weasley? The second of the terrifying trio, the charms, runes and arithmetic genius that fuels us!" he also raised his arms to loud cheers as more students filed in. He then took over commentating.

"And then comes the mighty Fred Weasley! The leader, the charmer! Our expert in charms and transfiguration!" more cheers came as Fred raised his arms. Lee then extracted three small vials of a pale blue liquid from his robes. And handed one to each of them.

"Bottoms up!" George cheered as they downed their respective vials of ageing potion.

They then lined up right on the edge of the line before jumping over as one. For a second, it looked as though it had worked. Enough time that the three let out a cheer, and then a bang sounded and they were thrown bodily from the circle.

As they sat up, they were each sporting a long white beard similar to Dumbledore's. The entire entrance hall, the trio included, burst out laughing.

"I did warn you," Dumbledore chuckled as he entered from the great hall. "I would suggest you three head up to the hospital wing; Madam Pomfrey has already had to treat several students who also attempted ageing potions.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning the three once again entered the entrance hall. This time, they forwent the drama and simply cast a levitation charm on their pieces of parchment, remaining outside the age line. They levitated the parchment towards the goblet, only to find it couldn't pass through.

Upon realising this, they hovered their parchments directly over the goblet. When they released the charm, the parchments simply sat floating. Obviously, it was a ward, not just a line.

"Fucks sake!" Lee swore.

"Alright I'll jump through, maybe mine'll fall through," Fred suggested.

He jumped through, and one of the parchments fell through but missed the goblet. As he hit the floor, he was once again thrown out of the dome, but this time without the beard.

"Right, Forge, levitate yours down towards the goblet as you jump through the barrier."

George then did this, only for him and his parchment to both start to float up towards the ceiling as he passed the line.

"Again, boys?" Dumbledore asked as he entered, the entrance hall once again buzzing with laughter. "Here, this will counteract the floating. Though I must admit, I hadn't expected the wards' reaction to be quite that strong." He said as he levitated up a vial of potion to George.

Though again it seemed, the effects on George were magnified as he suddenly plummeted downwards, parchment in hand. He passed straight through the age ward, his hand outstretched. Though Dumbledore managed to cast a cushioning charm in time for him to hit the floor, he couldn't prevent George's hand from depositing his name in the goblet.

He hit the ground hard, the cushioning charm, however, making the effect nothing more than falling onto a mattress.

Others in the hall rushed forward to see if the younger of the Weasley duo was injured, but Fred, who had realised that this had been his brother's plan all along, was howling with laughter.

"Ohh, Forge. You fucking genius, a little dose of Magicis Sensus and-" he broke off laughing. "Proud of you little bro."

Dumbledore, it seemed, was not amused at all. Looking upon the twin, who had since been thrown from the circle, with a look of disappointment.

"I had hoped your previous setbacks would discourage you from such a course of action Mr Weasley."

"Oh come off it sir. We all knew that given time, we would've found a way through if we wanted." George answered, still grinning.

Dumbledore said nothing, merely shaking his head and taking his leave, allowing George to bask in his glory at having bested Dumbledore's age line.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning saw the trio returning to the entrance hall. Fred took up position before the age line. He was on one knee, his hands on his thigh. Several people gathered around to observe as Lee prepared to take a run-up.

It seemed their plan was for Lee to make a running jump off of Fred and insert his name whilst in the air. The goblet was only around a metre off the ground and sat atop the stool used for the sorting.

Lee finally set off, running at Fred, he then took a leap up, landing with his right foot on Fred's thigh before once again taking to the air, propelled by Fred pushing his weight up and towards the cup.

He flew through the air arm outstretched and as he passed by the blue flames, deposited his parchment into the cup. George then shoved a mattress he'd removed from his pocket and enlarged into the circle to cushion Lee's landing.

Lee landed perfectly on it, before being thrown from the circle and landing at Dumbledore's feet.

"So that is where Mr McLaggen's mattress disappeared to last night." He commented, just ignoring his second loss to the Weasleys and Lee. "I would like to see it back in his bed in the next hour."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the next few days, there were no more public attempts by the trio to get the last of their number into the cup.

When Neville asked them why they hadn't just done a repeat act of George's or Lee's successes, Fred explained that they wanted to beat Dumbledore differently every time. The first, through prediction, and the second through brute force, but now he wasn't sure how to proceed. And that Dumbledore had repeatedly adjusted to prevent repeat performances.

Then Harry suggested trying to do it like a cursebreaker, make a pocket in the wards, enter, deposit, exit. No one's the wiser. He then volunteered to give it a go whilst there were fewer people around.

Fred agreed, and Ron insisted on coming along. That was how Harry found himself, Neville, Ron, Fred, George, Lee and Hermione in front of the goblet of fire.

"Harry, I really don't think you should be doing this," Hermione told him, "It's against the rules. Don't you think they introduced the rules for a reason?"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to enter myself, I can't be arsed if I'm honest. I just want a normal school year," he said, assuaging her concerns slightly, "Just think of it as extracurricular curse-breaking."

"Right then Harry, how're we doing this?" Fred asked.

"I have two plans. One is to use a bar of pure magic to lever up the ward itself, allowing entry and exit if I can hold it up. The second one involves me using a bit of family magic to simply rip a hole in the ward."

"That's really advanced stuff, Harry," Hermione pointed out, "Most people can't even summon pure magic, let alone use it."

"That's why it'll work," Fred said, looking excited as he shared a look with his partners in crime. "Just don't distract him, if it goes wrong, pure magic is mighty dangerous. Not even we have opened that can of worms."

Whilst the others gulped or took a few steps back, Harry stepped up to the ward.

He then took a deep breath before pointing his wand at a slight angle away from himself. Then, a flow of bright, pure white magic began to flow out of his wand. He grabbed it with his off-hand, as he cut the flow and flicked his wand back into its holster, freeing up his right hand to help form it into a half-metre-long cylinder or light.

He then plunged the stick of light at an angle into the floor, right where the ward intersected the flagstones. Then, with a decent amount of effort, Harry lifted the bar of magic, cutting right through the stone in the process. But the key part was that the bar had punctured the ward and was now lifting half the ward with it as it rose. As he brought it up to waist height, he paused before hefting it up to shoulder height.

"If anyone wants to enter, do it now!" he managed to get out, fighting the weight of the wards.

With a nod of understanding, Ron and Neville both dashed forward and threw in their names before retreating out from under the ward. Seeing that Fred wasn't going for it, Harry yanked the stick of light out of the ward, allowing it to fall back with a bang like a clap of thunder.

"What. The. Fuck." The group spun around, finding Katie and a Durmstrang girl standing just inside the Entrance Hall. It was Katie who had spoken, the look on her face unreadable. "The hell did I just see Harry doing?" she demanded as she stalked towards him.

"I- uh- getting Ron and Neville's names into the goblet." He said, slightly fearful of the girl in front of him.

"With what exactly?"

"Um, a pole of pure magic and some brute force."

"Uh-huh. I thought so. And why exactly have you been playing around with pure magic?"

"I uh, thought it could be useful. And there were a few entries in one of my family's books on it."

"And you didn't think it could have been dangerous?"

"No no, I did. Baldrick was ready with magic restraining cuffs. If I began to feel control slip, he'd slap them on me, and the magic flow would stop, and what was there would either be stable or dissipate. I took what you kept saying to heart."

"Hm, guess you pass this round, Potter," Katie said after a moment. "Anyway, this is Helena, she's a chaser at Durmstrang, she plays for the Lower's A team."

"Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Harry." He said.

"I know who you are," Helena replied in English as if she'd grown up speaking it. Seeing the look of surprise on Harry's face, she explained. "My grandfather was English; he met my grandmother in the war. Their daughter, my mother married a Welshman so I grew up speaking more English than German."

"Oh, okay, my great Grandfather fought too, and so did both his brothers-in-law. One for us, one against."

"I am aware of Charlus Potter and of Arcturus and Cepheus Black. The former two are still respected in most of Europe, without their counter-offensive into the Rheinland, Grindelwald's forces would have overrun much of France, leaving just the British, Iberians and Polish to fight him."

"It wouldn't have been possible without the German resistance," Harry said.

"True, but any other commanders would have abandoned us to our fates, not those two. Either way, let's focus on the here and now, the past won't do anything for us here."

"No, it won't." He agreed before turning to Fred. "Why didn't you go for it just now? I thought you wanted to enter." He asked.

"I do, but I want Dumbledore to know we beat him for three."

"Hm, in which case, I will show you a spell. But I want an oath that you'll never teach it to any others or let another learn it." Harry said, "It's in the family grimoire, but technically in another book, making it fifty-fifty on whether it's family magic."

"Blimey Harry, I can't let you give up family magic just so I can enter the tournament!" Fred objected.

"Yes, you can. I want you to." Harry argued back, "Besides, I'm sure you'll find a use for it."

"I-"

"Fred, give up," Harry said and the boy eventually nodded.

"But if we do use it, you'll get some of the spoils," He insisted. Harry nodded, knowing that was the best he'd get out of them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Two days later, the group who had seen Harry's feat with the ward convened in the entrance hall during breakfast. Fred, George and Lee entered shortly after them, faces set.

Fred stood a metre or so in front of the ward before murmuring under his breath and making a slashing move with his wand. The spell, grey in colour, burst from his wand and scythed through the ward, leaving a reasonably large gap in it. Fred then cast a ward-freezing charm he'd learnt from Bill, freezing the ward in position, keeping the hole stable.

Taking a deep breath, he then took a step forward until he was in front of the ward before stepping forward. When nothing happened, he took another. When still nothing happened, he walked up to the goblet and threw in his parchment.

He then exited the ward and dismantled his charms to raucous cheering. Dumbledore was watching him, a look of obvious surprise on his face.

"Mr Weasley," he began, "I would dearly like to know how you achieved such a feat. I believed my ward to be beyond stable."

"Ah, that would be telling now, wouldn't it, sir," Fred grinned, tapping the side of his nose. "Besides, even if I wanted to, I couldn't tell you."

"An oath or vow." Dumbledore observed, "I sincerely hope you didn't bind yourself to someone foolishly." He said looking over at Harry.

"Oh no, I wouldn't worry about it, sir. The only condition was to not share the spell with anyone."

"Hm, in that case, I fear for the security of Wizarding Britain." Dumbledore chuckled as he gave Harry a subtle wink before returning to the great hall. It seemed he had just conceded defeat to the twins.

"Harry, that was perfect," Fred said as he and George hefted him onto their shoulders, carrying him to breakfast, much to the amusement of the others.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Soon enough the day of the meeting with Lord Black rolled around and Harry stood in his dormitory, wearing his dress robes and preparing for the upcoming meeting.

He knew he was unlikely to keep to a plan or script, so his best chance was to wing it and hope he did fine. At best, Harry would leave the meeting as the Heir Black, at worst, he wouldn't leave at all.

Dumbledore had given him permission to leave the grounds for the meeting and had escorted Harry personally to the gates. Knowing Harry was as prepared as could be, he offered little discussion, merely wishing Harry luck as he prepared to depart beyond the ward line. It seemed he wasn't going to comment on Harry's part in Fred's entry into the tournament.

As the time approached seven, Harry took hold of the letter and waited for the portkey to activate.

Ten, nine, eight…

Maybe this really wasn't such a good idea.

Five, four…

He could still let go.

Two, one…

Harry felt a hooking sensation behind his navel and was pulled into the spinning sensation of portkey travel.

He landed heavily on the stone floor but managed to stay upright. The room he was in had a stone floor, but the dark wood-panelled walls and paintings of landscapes suggested an air of luxury.

"Heir Potter, Lord Black is awaiting you. Follow me please."

Harry nodded at the house elf.

"Of course, lead the way."

As the small creature led Harry through the house, he saw the frothing sea crashing against the rocks of the island the house was situated on. The house was completely unperturbed by the thunderstorm raging around it. The waves were easily a dozen metres high, and the winds were ripping the spray from the waves, stripping the ground of tall grasses or small bushes.

"Tis being a violent storm that one," the house elf said, "I's be needing to replant the flowers tomorrow."

Harry hummed, torn between looking at the paintings he passed and watching the lightning streak across the sky outside.

However, as they approached a large oaken double door and the house elf motioned for Harry to enter, Harry felt his apprehension approach its apex. Before he could dwell on it further, he pushed the doors open and entered the room.

He noticed it was a large dining room, lit by several chandeliers with multiple paintings and tapestries lining the walls. In the middle of the left wall was a large, roaring fireplace which cast warmth throughout the room. The centrepiece of the room was a large table, capable of seating over twenty people.

Overseeing it all was a large floor-to-ceiling window looking out over the cliffs of the island. Standing at the middle of the window, was a man. He was looking out over the turbulent waves and howling winds.

Not sure of what to do when the man didn't move, Harry approached, passing the table and moving to stand to the side of, and behind the man. As he also watched the storm beyond the enchanted glass, Harry felt himself almost transfixed by the beauty of nature's violence.

"What do you think of it?" the man, Lord Black asked.

"I- it's beautiful, the violence of it, but also how it seems to be in a dance with itself."

"Hmm, interesting point of view. Many would consider it to be frightful, the raw power of nature is indeed a sight to behold."

"True, but there's something about it, something that calls to me." Harry murmured, "Almost as if it is challenging me, not to fight it, or control it, but to become one with it, to harness it, use it."

Harry turned to the man, he was old, judging by looks, in his fifties or sixties, but with wizards' lifespans, he could have been seventy or eighty, maybe even ninety. He had high cheekbones and looked very much like Sirius but with some more wrinkles and greying hair. His eyes were steely grey and showed a sharper mind than one might imagine from looking at him.

"Is that so?" he questioned, "And you're not just saying that to try to convince me you're a Black through and through?"

"No, no I wouldn't try and lie here, I am fond of living." Harry defended, causing Black to chuckle.

"Well, at least you're honest. And if I were you, I wouldn't change that strategy. Lying won't help you here I know plenty about you to work out truth from lies. Either way, it's a pleasure to meet you, Heir Potter. I am, as you might have worked out, Lord Arcturus Black."

"The pleasure is all mine, Lord Black."

"Come, let us eat. We may get down to business afterwards. The rest should arrive shortly."

He then led Harry to the table and took his place at the head of the table. He then motioned Harry to take the seat on his left-hand side. Harry did so and moments later two more people entered the room.

"Ah, Cygnus. Druella." Arcturus acknowledged. The two were clearly confused, by the presence of a teenager, but Arcturus explained before they could ask. "This is Heir Potter; he is here at my behest. Heir Potter, this is my younger son and his wife Cygnus and Druella Black."

Harry rose from his seat to kiss the back of Druella's knuckles and to shake Cygnus' hand before returning to his seat.

Cygnus then took his place next to Harry with his wife on his other side. An uncomfortable silence fell over the table until another older, man entered.

"Pollux," Arcturus nodded.

"Arcturus." He nodded back, "Who's the young one?"

"Heir Harry Potter, our sister's great-grandson." He answered, "Heir Potter, this is Pollux Black, my elder brother."

Harry rose to shake the man's hand.

"Oh yes? In which case, welcome to the family. You'll be Charlus' grandson then?"

"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you, sir."

"Sir? No, no, no. First off, you're a black and a potter, you have only equals. Secondly, we're family. Call me Pollux. I know this lot can all be a bit cold, but that's just because those two married their daughters to Death Eaters, and Arcturus doesn't like to be friendly."

"For the last time Pollux, I didn't know they were Death Eaters. And by the time I did, there was nothing I could do."

"Bullshit! If you'd asked it of them, most of Britain would have cut off the Lestranges and Yaxleys, and we could have won any duel against the Malfoys. They just had you under their thumb."

"Pollux must you really start all of these fights?" another man questioned as he entered with another woman.

"You can shut your mouth, Orion, at least I have the balls to start an argument at all." He fired back, "I also didn't have a traitorous woman in charge of me." This second part was aimed at the woman.

"Oh dear," came another voice from the door, there were now two women standing there.

"Quite, Arcturus. Can you really not resist stepping in?" the second questioned.

"I felt it best to get it all out of the way before the meal." He answered with a smirk. "Now, Heir Potter may introduce you to my eldest son and his wife Orion and Walburga." He said gesturing to the two, before gesturing to the woman who had taken her seat opposite Harry, "This is my wife, Melania, and the other woman my sister Lucretia."

Harry rose to greet the four in the 'proper manner' before returning to his seat. Afterwards, the door opened once again and another pair walked in, these much more recognisable to Harry.

It was mostly due to the platinum blonde hair and arrogant demeanour that Harry recognised them, but Harry knew he would never forget the name of the man who had attempted to kill him just a year prior and had killed his grandfather.

"And this would be-"

"Malfoy." Harry ground out.

"So you've met before."

"Indeed. It wasn't a pleasant encounter."

"Potter?" Malfoy asked abruptly, surprised by his presence.

"That's Heir Potter to you."

"I see, my apologies, Heir Potter."

An awkward silence fell upon the table until food appeared. As the group ate, Pollux broke the silence.

"So, Harry, how've you found Hogwarts so far?" it was a simple question, an ice-breaker, but it did its job of alleviating some of the tension.

"Well, the lessons are alright, even if I haven't really been trying much, particularly charm transfiguration and defence," Harry explained. "I'm quite good at those and care of magical creatures, and the rest are alright, even though Binns is useless and Snape has a personal vendetta against me."

"And outside of lessons?" Melania questioned further.

"I've been seeker for Gryffindor, since first year. And the only time I haven't caught the snitch was when I was attacked by dementors last year. They have some extreme effects against me and the attack motivated me to learn the Patronus charm."

"You can cast a fully corporeal Patronus?" Walburga questioned, "Lies, not even the aurors can cast it. Prove it."

"I don't need to prove anything to you, but since you asked, here. Expecto Patronum."

As he said the words, a blinding white light burst from his wand, Prongs cantered around the room before charging through the glass into the night.

"Enough proof? Or should I fend off a hundred dementors with it again too?" he challenged Walburga.

"Again?" Arcturus interrupted.

"Yes, at the end of the school year, I had to defend myself my friend and Sirius from over a hundred of the things."

"Bullsh-"

"Shut up!" Arcturus silenced Walburga's protest. "When was this?"

"Sixth of June. It was the day I found out Sirius was innocent of everything."

This caused the entire table to erupt in shouting.

"SILENCE!" Arcturus roared enacting silence across the table. "the dementors were ordered back to Azkaban on the seventh, I assume this was because you convinced Fudge the dementors attacked innocents. Second, I was recently made aware of the situation with Sirius, Wambroves is organising a case for his pardon. We have reason to believe he was both innocent and not given a trial, thus we will be calling for his release at the next Wizengamot session."

"NO! Never! The little shit should rot in hell! If I see him, I shall kill him myself! He brought shame upon us when he ran away in favour of filthy mudbloods and blood-traitors!" Walburga screeched.

"Something you have only yourself to blame for. You treated him like he wasn't my heir in the hopes of Regulus being elevated. Don't deny it!"

"Also last checked, Sirius is a protectorate of the Potters. Try and kill him, you will find yourself in a most unfortunate position." Harry ground out, his magic flaring slightly.

"I do believe that Black should be handed over to the DMLE for processing. He is after all a wanted man."

"Silence Malfoy!" Pollux butted in, "The only reason you're here is because Cygnus married Narcissa off to you. If it was up to me, you would be dead in a ditch. Especially after that shit you did under Voldemort."

"I'm inclined to agree." Harry agreed. "Fleamont Potter would be turning in his grave if he knew I let you go for killing him."

"I was proven to be under the control of the Imperius curse."

"By your own cousin, you fucking bastard."

"I have had enough of this slander against me, come Narcissa, we are leaving." He announced.

"Narcissa will stay, she is a Black, I tolerate you here Lucius, but you will not remove a Black from their own home. By all means, leave but you will be doing it alone until this meeting is over." Arcturus blocked him.

Lucius snorted derisively before storming from the room.

"Thank you, grandfather," Narcissa said quietly.

"Of course."

"Why would you risk our families' relationship like that! The Malfoys are-"

"Irrelevant, all they have is money and much of it is based in businesses we could easily crush."

"Draco is set to become Lord Malfoy."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Arcturus snorted.

At this, Pollux started to cackle loudly, before changing into roaring laughter as he looked between Arcturus and Harry. Then Melania and Lucretia caught on and also started laughing, then Cygnus and Druella.

Finally, Walburga caught on and the reaction was immense. Her face turned red, then purple, then her magic flared, causing her hair to stand on end. Then came the vocal explosion.

No one could even understand what she was screaming, just that it was loud and unpleasant. Eventually, someone cast a silencing charm over her, alleviating the screeching.

"This is not something you can control or influence Walburga. Just be glad your husband saved your skin ten years ago, next time, I won't let him."

"Yes, I am considering making Heir Potter here Heir Black too. He carries Black blood and had the Black reaction to the thunderstorm. The call is enough for me to judge his character. I was planning on discussing it with him after the meal however, I have decided already."

"Well I for one support this whole-heartedly, no spawn of Fleamont's killer will be Lord Black."

"What if I were to say Lucius also attempted to kill me two years ago?" Harry added.

"How?" Arcturus asked sharply.

"Well, you remember the whole thing in Hogwarts with the petrifications? It was a basilisk set loose by a memory of Voldemort in a diary Lucius slipped to Ginny Weasley. And after I killed the snake and destroyed the diary, which was absorbing Ginny's soul, I gave it to Lucius, tricking him into freeing his elf at the same time. He then tried to use the killing curse in me but his elf saved me."

"That fucking shit, I'll ram his balls down his throat and then strangle him with his own hair!" Pollux swore.

"You killed a basilisk?"

"You freed Dobby?"

"Shut up! A memory in a book absorbing a soul?" Arcturus questioned.

"Yes, its name was Tom Marvolo Riddle, which rearranged spells out 'I am Lord Voldemort'," Harry explained, copying Riddle's own trick in the chamber. "Ginny had been writing in the diary all year, and then it possessed her, and eventually tried to use her life to become corporeal."

"Shit, that's no memory. That sounds like a fucking Horcrux, are you sure you destroyed it? You'd need more than just a simple Incendio."

"Yes I stabbed it with a basilisk fang, but what is a Horcrux?" Harry asked.

"Soul magic, the foulest of it. You rip apart your soul before storing the ripped part of it in a container. They're virtually indestructible save for basilisk venom, fiendfyre and the killing curse."

Everyone in the room shivered at the thought, messing with one's soul never ended well for anyone.

"And the basilisk? Did you really slay it?" Cygnus asked.

Harry nodded before rolling up his right sleeve.

"Yeah, it bit me there from when I stabbed it through the roof of its mouth with a sword. I'm only alive because I had a phoenix cry into the wound."

"Merlin's saggy left fucking ball," Pollux murmured.

The scar just below his elbow was still as ugly as ever, its entry and exit holes both contrasting with Harry's skin.

"You stabbed the basilisk in its mouth, where all the teeth are?" Walburga scoffed, "Such foolishness is not worthy of being a lord, let alone of the Blacks."

"I don't see you killing a basilisk. Or fighting off Dementors, or facing off against Voldemort as a first year." Harry riposted, "Do something worthwhile then come back and challenge me."

As Walburga started to build up for another explosion, Orion finally said something.

"Walburga dear, calm down, you will only find yourself in more trouble."

His wife, for her part, didn't just take his words at face value but did fall back into a sullen silence after a few moments.

"What do you mean as a first-year?" Lucretia asked, intrigued by Harry's statement.

Harry took a deep breath before explaining the story of his first year, of Quirrell, Snape, the stone, and the defences.

Pollux was once again the first to speak, letting out a long string of expletives. Again Harry's escapades had shocked the Black family into silence.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

AN:

First things first, sorry about the ever-long break between updates. But as I'm writing this, life is being life in that it's just…. Yeah. Especially right now, been on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster so we'll see how that goes. Either way, I have no intention of leaving this story unfinished so it will be, eventually (I hope) finished.

On another note, we're at about 200 follows and 100 likes which I was not expecting at all, I thought my writing was pretty shit so it's nice to know it might not be. Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it.