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Chapter 38

Head Auror Williamson had tried to argue that Harry choosing to confront Quirrell was premeditation but Harry's defence under a vow of truth, the Flamel's statement that they didn't consider Harry's actions to be theft, and the lack of any kind of witnesses on the other side as the only possible witness was Voldemort himself meant that Harry was let go before lunch.

The vote wasn't quite as unanimous as Harry and Ted had hoped for but it was still very clear that the majority of the Wizengamot who would have voted to convict Harry of any crime they had the opportunity to weren't permitted to vote because of the blood feud.

There was a bit of a stir amongst the Wizengamot about propriety when as soon as Harry had been freed from the chains Fleur had leapt over the railing and charged Harry immediately locking her lips with his. Harry however didn't care. He had been practically alone for days and he now had one of the most amazing women in the entire world in his arms; he wasn't going to let anything short of a sudden attack by Voldemort himself distract him.

Unfortunately for some Dumbledore took the opportunity with everyone being distracted by the couple and slipped away, trying to avoid the Flamels who noticed and followed him.

Hermione maybe could have slipped in with them but she was less inclined to being too affectionate in public. Sure a hug and quick chaste kiss was something she was comfortable with in public, but not what Fleur was doing. Instead Hermione walked up to Williamson and loud enough that everyone could hear without shouting or being rude she challenged him. "Where can my betrothed get his wand back from?"

"It's evidence, it will be returned once all the parchmentwork is filled out. That can take up to two months." Williamson said, sounding smug. It was clear from his tone he was being petty. Hermione even suspected that it was possible that Williamson was going to try and lose the parchmentwork or even possibly Harry's wand.

In her frustration Hermione got louder, not loud enough to be accused of shouting but loud enough that everyone there could clearly hear her and know there was some drama worth listening to. "That's complete hippogriff dung and you know it. Harry's testimony under vow proves that he didn't use his wand and even if he had the multiple years he has used it since then would have obliterated any trace of residual magic from any spells cast back then. His wand can in no way be considered evidence. This is just an attempt by a sore loser to hobble Harry's magical ability when you know he is involved in a blood feud."

"Who the hell do you think you're talking to you filthy animal! Get back to your master like a good little pet before I call magical creatures agents and have you put down!"

If Harry hadn't been in the middle of an embrace from Fleur already she wouldn't have had the opportunity to tighten her arms around him and keep him from leaping across the courtroom and beating the shit out of Williamson with his bare hands.

Fleur had realised that letting Harry punch the head of the Aurors in front of so many witnesses right after he had just been found not guilty on a murder charge would see him arrested immediately. That wasn't to say Fleur wasn't in favor of some immediate retribution, she was having to fight off her transformation. Not an easy thing to do when she really wanted to start throwing fireballs at the bastard.

Hermione was angry. She was just looking around for a glove with the intention of issuing a formal duelling challenge when there was a loud crack, a flash of red light and Williamson collapsed to the floor unconscious. Amelia Bones, the minister of magic herself was standing there, wand raised pointed where Williamson had just been standing.

"Bloody fool." She cursed as she looked at the unconscious bigot. Then she turned to one of the Aurors on duty. "Shacklebolt. Go to the evidence locker and bring Warlock Potter his wand. While you're on your way, take that thing and dump him in his office." She indicated Williamson.

Shacklebolt levitated the unconscious head Auror out of the room and Minister Bones made her way over to a still rather pissed off Hermione. "Firstly, the Ministry of Magic formally apologies for what just happened and you have my personal apologies as well. Are you okay?"

Hermione took a deep breath to center herself before saying. "Not really. Nothing some time won't fix though." By this point Harry and Fleur were rushing over and pulling their bushy haired girl into their combined embrace.

"Is there anything the Ministry can do to help?" Bones asked, genuinely sounding upset at what happened.

It was Fleur who answered. "Oui. You can fire that man. It is difficult to believe that a wizard with his hate would be an effective leader of the people whose job it is to stop people who he seems to share his beliefs with."

Amilia Bones looked a little awkward for a second before she told them something she probably shouldn't. "He took a vow of truth before he got the job and he said he was not nor had he ever been a death eater."

Harry immediately saw the loophole. "Did he say he didn't think Voldemort had the right idea? Did he say that he didn't believe that if he dragged his feet a little giving Voldemort an opportunity to clear out more muggleborn that it wouldn't improve the magical world? Did he say he didn't believe that people like my betrothed deserve less rights than he does? There is more to being trusted in that role than just not being a death eater."

Bones held up her hands in a gesture of surrender. "I know but the law says I can't force people to answer questions like that. Williamson volunteered to give that statement under a vow. With that and his seniority in the department I would have needed ironclad evidence to justify giving the job to someone else. Rest assured that he won't be in charge of anything by the end of the day."

That wasn't quite what any of them wanted to hear but it was enough for now. So Harry decided to change the subject. "I haven't had anything but prison food for days, once I get my wand back, why don't we go out for lunch? I'm sure we can be a little late getting to Hogwarts."

That was quickly agreed on and they only had to wait twenty minutes before Auror Shacklebolt came back with Harry's wand and a receipt for Harry to sign saying he had his wand back.

"So where should we go for lunch?" Dan asked as they made their way to the exit.

Hermione smiled and said. "Skinner's Arms. We haven't been there in ages. It's mundane so we are unlikely to have any unwanted gatecrashing." Then she turned to Fleur. "It's the gastro pub that Alison's father's family owns and runs."

It was quickly agreed and because it wasn't very far they decided to walk. Harry was a little surprised to see that everyone was on edge as they emerged from the telephone booth but decided that this wasn't the best place to ask about it. So instead he asked. "So what's the plan for getting to school? Where is all our stuff?"

Fleur answered. "Everything you need to take back with you is in the house. After dinner we go home then you and Hermione change. Hermione arranged for the school to send down a carriage to take you up to the school."

They walked with the bustle of London foot traffic and Harry rather enjoyed it. You would think that after a few days in a cell he would crave wide open spaces but claustrophobia was never one of Harry's issues, what he hated was the feeling of isolation. More than once he had been tempted to step out for five minutes just to give his ladies a hug but it would have caused major problems if anyone had checked the cell while he was away. Now having people around him, even random strangers on the street, was helping him feel normal again. He was sure his tolerance for the random strangers would fade quickly but for now they were welcome.

They arrived at the pub about three quarters of the way through the lunch rush and had to settle for two smaller tables right next to each other rather than a larger table that would fit all of them. There was some small talk with the bar staff while they ordered and that was when Harry and Hermione learned that Dan and Emma had brought Sirius here a few times while they were away at school. It made sense, the three of them shared a house and if they ever wanted a night off from cooking a mundane place was much safer and it was a favourite of Dan and Emma's.

"So what had everyone so tense in the alley?" Harry asked as they pulled the two tables next to each other so they could comfortably sit together.

There was a collective wince through the group because they realised they hadn't told Harry what happened yet. Sirius filled him in. "There was a death eater attack in the alley this morning. We suspected that there would be some death eaters waiting for us and snuck in early but we also had some of the feud members who had joined Augusta go in polyjuiced as us. We were hoping to turn the trap around on them. Unfortunately our plan was based on using Hermione's flash bang runes to disorient them and we discovered too late that their plan involved Peruvian instant darkness powder. One death eater was killed but we lost two of Longbottoms people."

Harry felt as though someone had just dumped a bucket of ice water over his head and his mood shifted from being kinda happy about the result of the trial, to grief that yet more good people had died thanks to him calling a blood feud. There were two questions that immediately jumped into his head but one of them seemed far more important than the other so he asked it first. "What were their names?"

Emma answered. "Augusta told me it was Harlech and Spencer, but she never told me their first names.

"Jemma Harlech and David Spencer." Hermione supplied in a small voice. "I remember their names from the documents about people joining the feud. David was a muggleborn and Jemma was like Harry, a halfblood whose parents were a muggleborn and someone from a magical family who were killed in the last war. Neither of them had any family."

That unfortunately set the tone for the rest of lunch. Though Harry did ask the other question he had on his mind. "Where did you manage to get polyjuice potion so quickly? It takes an entire moon cycle to brew." Of course Harry only knew that because of Hermione brewing it their second year.

"The Flamels supplied it." Fleur answered. "Nicolas said he always keeps a few pints stocked. They didn't say why but I had the impression he had other difficult potions stocked as well."

-ϟϟϟ-

After dinner they taxied to Grimmauld and Harry stepped Hermione and Fleur to the Hogsmeade house. He was immediately set upon by two very clingy house elves who it seemed had been rather afraid that Harry wouldn't be coming home. After he spent ten minutes comforting them and promising he was in no danger of disappearing on them he and Hermione retreated to the bedroom to change into their school uniforms.

Harry took the opportunity for a real shower as he had had to live with just cleaning charms for the last few days and while he knew they worked he just didn't really feel clean after the charms. Hermione tried to rush him but as far as Harry was concerned the entire first day of classes was lost. Even if he was to Step them right to the school and their next scheduled lesson their minds wouldn't be on the subjects. So it was no loss to wait long enough for him to spend thirty minutes in the shower.

The trip up to the castle was uneventful though Harry insisted Hermione sit in his lap with his arms around her so that if there was any sign of trouble he would be able to just Step away without having to reach and grab her first but luckily nobody attacked the carriage. Hermione thought that was because the death eaters would assume they would travel by floo, portkey or even apparition, something that would have given the death eaters far less of a window of opportunity.

"But because this is something they think we would never do because it's so unsafe they don't have any kind of trap prepared and that makes this the safest way back to school." Hermione explained.

Harry was still trying to work out if his Hermione was completely insane or a genius. Normally he would say genius but this plan seemed to lean more into the crazy category. Yet as they passed through the school gates and under the protection of the wards he had to admit her plan had worked.

They arrived back at the school about half way through the last lesson of the day and made their way up to the runes classroom so that they could stick their heads in and tell their head of house they were back in the school. Professor Babbling was happy to see them, especially Harry, but dismissed the two fairly quickly so that she could get back to teaching her class. Harry and Hermione dropped their things off in the dorm and Harry asked, "Where is everyone now? No need to keep our friends worrying any longer."

"Well, Ron, Tracy and Daphne, have potions right now. Which is where we are supposed to be." Harry nodded, he knew that much. "Susan and Hannah have charms, Luna is in care of magical creatures, and Neville has a free period."

"Okay as Luna is the odd one out why don't we go walk her back up to the castle?" Harry suggested.

Hermione nodded, already swinging her cloak around her shoulders. The two of them made their way back the way they had come and they were walking across the grounds arm in arm. It was still a few minutes before the class let out so the two waited just around the corner from where Hagrid was showing the fifth years how to collect Ashwinder eggs from a magical bonfire, without letting the magical fire snakes slither off and start a forest fire. It was a great lesson for the bitter chill of the January air and the two smiled fondly, remembering their own lesson last year.

About a minute before the fifth years were due to come Neville came walking up behind them from the school. "Hey guys. Missed you both yesterday." Neville said as he joined them. "Good to see you free again Harry."

"Hey nev. Anything happen yesterday that we should know about?"

"Malfoy, I mean Draco is bragging that he is now officially a member of House Parkinson so I guess we are allowed to kill him again. I mean he was saying that he could kill us but I like my way better. You need to watch your back, Harry. He is definitely gonna come after you. I think he wants to try and make you surrender the House of Malfoy back to him." Neville told them, stumbling over what to call Draco since he wasn't a member of House Malfoy anymore.

Harry nodded. "Yeah. I was expecting that. Didn't think he would get into the house of Parkinson so quickly though. How did he do it?"

Neville made an 'oh how could I forget the most important bit' face then said. "Oh yeah that's the juicy bit of gossip. He and Parkinson are apparently married now. They say it happened over Christmas break. The two of them have apparently moved into a private room together."

Harry almost asked how they could be married as he was sure Draco was still sixteen but he remembered that stuff like that was not covered by Ministry law but by House law. If Draco had joined the House of Parkinson all he would need is Warlock Parkinson's permission. And signing a few forms with a blood quill. So instead he asked. "So is it Mr and Mrs Malfoy now or…"

Harry's suspicions were confirmed when Neville grinned. "Mr and Mrs Parkinson. And that tells you everything you need to know about what's going on."

Harry looked confused so Hermione explained. "Harry, you know how patriarchal the houses are. Yeah I know witches can be Warlocks but a lot of the old families don't like it. They want to preserve the house name because of some stupid male ego. Draco would never willingly surrender the name Malfoy. With him becoming a Parkinson now it shows Warlock Parkinson has Draco trapped. Even if Draco gets the House of Malfoy back I bet he will have to hand over control to Warlock Parkinson."

Harry nodded. He was just thinking that he would have to watch out more for Draco. After all, a cornered animal will fight all the harder and from Draco's perspective he had now lost everything. It wouldn't take much to push Draco into doing something desperate.

Not long after that the first years came wandering past and a few of them showed surprise seeing Harry there. He supposed that it had reached the papers that his trial would be today and they had either thought it would take longer or that Harry wouldn't be back at all.

Luna's response was more like that of Dobby and Sassy in that as soon as she saw him she came running up and gave him a hug.

"Harry, you're back!" Harry couldn't help but grin at the Ravenclaw. She had been far too unhappy this year and while he could understand why he was glad to see her smiling.

After that they walked back up to the castle together where they met up with the Gryffindors and Slytherins coming out of potions. Draco and Pansy were standing together and Pansy had a wide grin on her face that reminded Harry of Sylvester every time he caught Tweety. Considering it had been obvious she had wanted Draco for years Harry wasn't surprised. Draco though wasn't looking at Pansy at all he was looking at Harry with a sadistic smirk on his face, he actually looked happy that Harry was back. But then he couldn't enact whatever revenge plan he had in mind if Harry had been carted off to Azkaban. Harry would need to watch his back, that much he was sure of.

Ron, Daphne, and Tracy were the last three to come walking up the stairs that led to the dungeon. They weren't stupid enough to risk coming up earlier and risk that Draco or one of the other junior death eaters wouldn't attack them in the back. Not with Snape as the only professor nearby. Snape may have been stripped of his head of house position and was being forced to be a better teacher and to treat all the students fairly. That however didn't mean that they had forgotten what Snape was like when let off the leash. Harry was sure the only reason the man hadn't quit was because he was spying on what was happening at the school. Harry just didn't know for whom, Voldemort or Dumbledore.

The trio saw Harry standing there with Hermione, Neville and Luna and came over. Tracy having her hands full with her books and potion supplies bumped him with her hip and said. "So they let you out then?"

"Yeah something about the fact that he was trying to kill me first had them take it easy on me. Now what are you doing carrying your books and potions ingredients like that? Why aren't they in a bag so you can draw your wand quickly if you need to?"

She looked a little red and didn't answer, Daphne did though. "Tracy mixed up her powdered snake fangs and her powdered dragon fangs in today's lesson."

"They look incredibly similar." Tracy protested.

"She added the dragon fang to her potion and while she was quick enough to save almost everyone in her bag, the bag itself and her makeup kit have both died."

"That's not so bad." Said Harry. "I know, I will call Dobby and tell him to go buy you a new school bag and we can order you a replacement makeup kit." Harry was betrothed to two women and when they weren't at school he lived with Daphne and Tracy as well. So while he had no clue what makeup to buy Tracy he was knowledgeable enough to know he couldn't send Dobby to grab some random makeup kits. It would be better to let Tracy order exactly what she needed than try and guess.

Tracy liked that idea so that was exactly what Harry did, he called Dobby and had him take some galleons from the house and to go and buy Tracy a new book bag suitable for school. After asking Tracy if she wanted a particular colour or anything else the little elf popped away.

Harry took Tracy's case of potion ingredients and tucked it under his one arm leaving her with a much easier to carry load. They made their way up to the library as with all the tension between Harry and his friends and the wannabe death eaters it had become one of best places for them to spend any time and they knew Hannah and Susan would be along shortly.

Before they even got to the library Dobby was back with a brand new forest green leather book bag and proving that the little guy must have been eavesdropping he also had an owl order catalogue full of makeup and beauty products. Tracy thanked Dobby and immediately started packing her books into the new bag before she took back her potions ingredients and added them too.

Susan and Hannah it turned out were already in the library as the charms classroom was closer to the library and they hadn't stopped to talk to everyone. Once they were all together the heavy questioning finally started. They wanted to know everything from how Harry had suddenly been arrested years after the incident, to why the trial was so quick. Harry and Hermione answered all their questions. Hermione had to answer some of them just because they had happened while Harry was locked away, so Harry was caught up on what happened as well.

The biggest surprise for everyone except Harry and Hermione was the story of the attack that had happened that morning. Neville was particularly affected because it was his grandmother who led the group of feuders for their side.

"Dammit. What if the death eaters decide to attack my home? There will be less people defending it now. What if they go after gran?" Neville was incredibly worried about the possibility of a revenge attack.

"I wouldn't worry too much Nev." Hannah tried to comfort him. "You said your gran had updated the wards and there are still plenty of fully grown wizards who know how to fight there."

It didn't work, Neville remained worried about his gran. Considering that she was the only family he had left and how he had lost his parents, Harry thought Neville was actually holding it together quite well.

Sometimes bold and to the point was the best approach so Harry just asked. "Is there anything we can do to help mate?"

Neville shook his head. "Not unless you suddenly have a way to end this war. Gran knew what she was signing up for when she joined your feud. It's just, it's suddenly hitting me how much danger she is in."

Harry and Hermione both understood. They had similar worries about Fleur. With her job at the bank she was far too in the open for their comfort. Unfortunately there was nothing they could really do to offer Neville any comfort. Anything comforting they could say would obviously be a lie that he would easily see through. The unfortunate truth was that people they care about were in dangerous situations.

Before the atmosphere got too depressing, Susan changed the subject. "So apart from Harry and Hermione did anybody else see the notices on the common room notice boards this morning?" There was a round of no's and head shaking so she continued. "Apparition lessons start next week."

That lifted everyone's spirits. Harry could understand why. His ability to Step gave him a feeling of freedom and independence, something very few teenagers had but almost all of them desperately wanted. Harry wasn't quite as excited as everyone else who were all eagerly talking about where they would go and what they would do once they could apparate. How could he be, he could already do those things, however he couldn't help but be caught up in their excitement.

"So Harry, are you going to attend the lessons?" Tracy asked.

"Don't know yet. On one hand what's the point in the lessons? I can Step to pass my test and everyone important already knows I have a family gift that lets me do something incredibly similar to apparition. On the other hand I'm curious if I can even learn apparition and knowing how to could be important if I ever need to teach anyone else. But then again I really don't want to ever experience splinching and that's pretty much guaranteed if you want to learn to apparate."

"I think you should do it." Said Susan. "Did you know that you need to be able to apparate to create a portkey? Well not really but you need to picture exactly where you want the portkey to go in exactly the same way you pick your destination for apparating. So the Ministry will only let you apply to learn to create portkeys if you can Apparate. Considering how useful portkeys can be I think you probably should learn it. May as well learn with us at the same time."

Harry unfortunately thought that Susan had a good point. It seemed he was going to need to go through with the lessons. Grate he was just going to have to get used to throwing his guts up in front of everyone.

A/N

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