Chapter 521
There was absolutely no time for the important things of
life, such as playing chess, flying, practicing Quidditch, or
'resting' and thinking about what he was going to do when
he became rich, wealthy and important. The only times he
got to do any of that was on the weekends; but, even then,
he was only allowed a single hour before lunch and two
hours after lunch. It was, without any doubt, cruelty.
And it was all Potter's fault! The problem was, each time
he began to make plans for how he was going to deal with
that traitor, his mother would contact the dragon and tell
her about his hand on the family clock. Then she'd bring
out that damned wooden spoon and, soon thereafter, he'd
not be able to sit down for the rest of the day on anything
but a very soft cushion.
However, 'Aunt Muriel' was also teaching him
Occlumency. She'd explained it was a way he could get
his temper under control and get a better wand grip on
focussing on study. It did that. But, what was better, was
he was able to suppress his anger towards Potter in such
a way the clock didn't send his mother or father running to
the floo to call his aunt as often. That saved him sore bum
cheeks.
Once he figured that out, he was more willing to learn the
art and, over the past month, had not even one 'incident'.
It did not stop him from thinking of ways to hurt Potter for
the harm he'd caused him, though. He just got better at it
not showing on that blasted clock.
No matter how long it took him to devise a way, he'd make
sure Potter would pay!
Since returning to the Burrow he'd raided Bill and Charlie's
DADA and charms text books to learn defensive spells.
Both had kept them as they knew the books might come in
handy for the gold-strapped family when each of the next
children reached that Year in Hogwarts. The DADA
textbooks, especially, he did not think anyone would miss,
as each year there were new professors in that subject
and each new professor had their own choice of which
texts to use.
What he was thankful for, was that Potter hadn't stolen all
the gold off him he'd gotten from Dumbledore by claiming
it was his, only what was in his bank account at the time;
which, admittedly, was the majority of it. Plus, he'd also
received a little more off Aunt Muriel for the chores he did
at her place. He felt it was a good investment, though, to
use the little gold remaining he'd gotten off Dumbledore to
buy dark arts books he could learn curses and hexes
from.
When the opportunity presented itself, he'd be using those
against Potter and his whores. For now, he'd try and
memorise as many defensive spells as possible for his
future confrontation. The dark offensive spells could wait
until he got those books.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After waking at his usual time, Harry realised the bed
Sirius had bought for him was wonderfully soft, but not too
soft like the beds at Hogwarts. The top few layers of the
mattress were like a pillow but, underneath that, there was
a firmness that meant he didn't sink too deeply when he
lay upon it. It was similar to the mattress he had at the
Grangers.
After tending to his morning ablutions, he headed down to
the kitchen and was surprised Dot or someone else hadn't
beaten him down.
With a pleased smile he began to work on preparing yet
another variant of his decent 'English-lite' breakfast for the
denizens of the townhouse.
After he got the fire in the grill of the oven started and
heating up - it was a 'modern' gas grill but without the gas
rings for burners on top, the gas burners merely replaced
what used to be the firebox part of the stove - he made a
start on preparing what he would be cooking; poached
eggs, grilled bacon, a concoction he called 'train-smash',
potato cakes, sausages and toast. The potato cakes were
first as he needed to thoroughly cook the potatoes, before
mashing, balling, flattening and breading them like
rissoles. He added a small white thoroughly diced onion to
the potatoes to mix in with them. His version of 'train
smash' consisted of egg, tomato, another small white
onion, a little ham and herbs and a dash each of tomato
and Worcestershire sauce, all cooked and blended
together. It was wonderful on toast with salt and pepper.
While the diced potato and both onions were in a pot and
boiling he placed a dozen plates in the oven to warm them
up before making a start on making the train smash.
That's when Dorothy came in.
"Wow!" she said, looking at what he'd laid out in order.
"Any allergies I need to know about?" he asked, smiling
back.
"None," she replied, "Except 'hard work' for the kids."
Indicating what he was doing, she asked, "Won't that be
too much?"
He shrugged. "Only if I over-estimate the eggs, tomato or
the train smash. Everything else can be eaten cold for
morning tea, or just to have as snacks. Merlin, even the
train smash is nice cold on bread as a sandwich; so too is
the eggs if you add in curry and cayenne pepper and
mash them for curried egg sandwiches."
Nodding along, Dorothy was quick to check the apron she
was wearing was secure before she said, "I'll start cooking
the sausages, bacon and tomatoes. Then I'll make the
hollandaise sauce for the eggs."
"Excellent," he said. "That leaves me to work on making
sure the heat stays at just the right temperature, getting
the train smash ready for the pot and that should be just
about right for the potatoes to come off to be mashed with
the other onion, balled, flattened and breaded."
Harry actually found it was quite easy to work with
Dorothy. Unlike Dobby when he helped, she didn't keep
trying to take over and do everything.
"When do your lot start making an appearance in the
mornings?" he asked.
"As soon as they start smelling breakfast being cooked,"
she replied. "Well, that's true for Stephen and Pat. The
girls usually take someone going up and waking them up."
"Well, I'll leave that to you," he smirked. "You can tell them
they won't get a 'Harry' breakfast if they're not down on
time. And, I happen to think my breakfasts are a bit better
than my dinners."
She grinned back and said, "You are evil."
"Nope," he replied with a small grin. "Just demanding of
my diners not to waste my time."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Dorothy was right in that the Wilkins males soon made an
appearance, but she had to go wake Sarah and CeeCee.
When she returned, she snickered and said, "They both
started with their, 'Just five more minutes, Mum' routines,
before I told them that Harry was cooking and he had no
intention of holding breakfast for them. They were both out
of bed before I was out the door."
He chuckled back.
'Hmmm...' he thought. Turning to the side he called,
"Chuckles." When the elf popped in with a crack, he said,
"Could you please go wake Padfoot and Moony and let
them both know, if they want a Harry-cooked breakfast,
they'd best get down here pretty quick."
"Yes, Young Master Harry," replied the elf, before it
popped away.
Even Harry was surprised when Sirius almost ran in less
than five minutes later. Clearly, he'd just pulled a robe on
and ran downstairs. He looked like he was still asleep.
"Really, Padfoot?" asked Harry upon seeing him.
"Hey, Pup," he said, trying to wipe the sleep out of his
eyes. "There was no way I was going to miss one of your
breakfasts."
Harry smirked and, between he and Dorothy, had the
servings on the table in short order. Narcissa came down
a little while later. Harry didn't know for sure if she was
also staying at the townhouse and hadn't thought to ask.
Remus was down five minutes after that. At least he
looked like he'd attended his ablutions first, even if is hair
was still wet and his robes looked like they were stuck to
damp skin. And the girls were down a further seven after
that.
Again, the food was well received.
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Chapter 522
After breakfast the Wilkinses, Sirius and Narcissa left to go
to the Alley. They were going in to see Ted Tonks. Harry
was pretty sure it had to do with protecting CeeCee from
political or legal shenanigans, but it wasn't his place to
ask.
They'd barely been gone half an hour when Hermione
turned up. "Where is everyone?" she asked.
"The Wilkinses, Sirius and Narcissa have all gone into the
Alley to see Ted Tonks," he replied. "I think Remus is up in
the library. Leastwise, that's what I've been told is his
usual haunt when he's here."
"Why've they gone to see―?" she began before she gave
herself a little shake and said, "No. It's not my business. If
they want me to know, they'll tell me."
He smiled and gave her a nod.
"I'm getting better," she sheepishly returned. 'And I'm sorry
it's taking so long."
"You are," he agreed. "And you're forgiven."
"I was hoping to talk to CeeCee more," she said with a
pout.
"You will, I'm sure," he said.
"When are they due back?" she asked. "Do you know?"
"No," he replied. "However, as they're speaking with a
lawyer - who, family or not, charges by the quarter hour - I
expect them to be back well before lunch. That is, of
course, if they don't decide to go sight-seeing after visiting
Ted; or, go into Gringotts and sort out finances there; or, I
don't know what.
"However, as I first said, I think they'll be back well before
lunch. I hope so, as I'll be preparing lunch in the
expectation they'll be back to eat it.
"Why don't you go up and chat with Remus, raid Sirius's
library while Remus is there so he can make sure none of
the books are harmful to you or go visit one of the others?"
She paused to think about it for a few moments before she
seemed to reach a decision and said, "I'll go talk to Remus
and raid the library. I want to talk with CeeCee again and
I'll need to know when she returns so we can chat."
As Hermione headed to the library to go speak with
Moony, Harry headed back to the kitchen.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
As Harry thought they would, the Wilkinses and Sirius
returned before lunch. Harry had already prepared a
decent spread of a thick beef and vegetable stew with
crispy bread dinner rolls to 'soak up the juices' for lunch.
As he was ladling out a bowl each, with urgings to go for
more if they were still hungry after their first bowl, he
asked Sirius, "Narcissa not come back with you?"
"She's gone to Malfoy Manor to put it in stasis," replied his
godfather. "She doesn't want to be there on her own and
I've offered her room and board here until she's got her
feet under her again."
"I'll save some stew for her, then," he said.
When the Wilkinses were at the table and enjoying their
bowls of stew, Harry quietly asked Sirius, "Is Narcissa
going to cause any trouble for CeeCee?"
"No," his godfather just as quietly replied. "At least, she's
assured me she won't. She just wants to be a part of her
life, from here on."
Harry gave a nod as he handed Sirius his bowl. Then, as
Sirius carried his bowl and bread plate with roll upon it to
the head of the table to sit to eat, he went via the stairs up
and yelled, "Oi! Moony! Grubs up, if you want to eat!"
"Coming!" he heard yelled back.
Hermione was already down and sitting alongside
CeeCee. Apparently, they were able to continue their
discussion from the afternoon before without a problem.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
The next morning and after breakfast, Harry decided to go
visit Neville. He floo called first, to see what the other boy
was up to, when Alice saw him and demanded he come
over.
"Alright, Alice," he said. "Give me a few minutes to let
Sirius know I've gone out for a while and I'll be right there."
Pulling his head out of the flames he went and did exactly
that and, as promised, a few minutes later he was
stepping out of the floo into Longbottom Hall... and tripped
over his own two feet.
"Damn it!" he softly cursed.
It didn't help that Alice laughed at him for it.
He grumbled, "I get to the stage where I think I've got a
handle on flooing and, next thing I know, I'm trying to kiss
the floor again."
"That's because you're letting your concentration slip," she
explained. "You're a Potter. You need to always
concentrate when using the floo."
With a sigh he let her vanish the soot off him and asked,
"Where's Nev?"
"Greenhouses," she said.
"The girls not here?" he asked.
"No. They only stayed a couple days for Frank and I to get
to know them better," she replied. "Neville will go and stay
with Susan and Hannah at Bones Manor next week."
He gave a nod and said, "Then I best go track down
Neville and make sure a Venomous Tentacula or
something isn't trying to 'do' him in."
That earned him a laugh before she said, "Go."
Grinning, Harry walked to the back of the Hall and out into
the 'backyard'. He found Neville by the simple expedient of
seeing him though the glass wall on the middle
greenhouse, directly ahead.
Apparently, Neville saw him by the same method and was
up and off his stool, holding the door open as Harry got
there.
"Harry!" the boy happily cried out.
"Hiya, Nev!" he grinned
"Come on in!" said Neville. "I'm just finishing up re-potting
some of my cross-bred Dittany."
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---------------
Chapter 523
Over the next few days, including the weekend, Harry had
been able to visit most of the other 'Heirs'. The only one
he couldn't was Justin. Justin didn't have access to a floo
and Harry was not yet proficient in Apparating. Besides
which, he did not know the apparation co-ordinates.
It wasn't until the Tuesday he figured out what he already
knew from many months earlier and 'decided' he needed
to find a sufficiently robust wall for him to go bang his head
against - repeatedly.
Writing a short note he called for Dobby. The little elf
popped in with only the very lightest of cracks.
"Yes, Master Harry?" asked the elf.
Harry handed his note over and asked, "Can you take this
to Justin Finch-Fletchley and hand it to him when he's
alone or only his immediate family is present and can see
you?"
"Yes, Master Harry," he replied, before popping away.
Ten minutes later, Raggy popped in and handed him a
note back, before popping away again.
~ # ~
Harry,
Sure! Only me and my immediate family here, at the
moment.
I take it you're going to have an elf side-along apparate
you over, right? Tell it to bring you to me.
Justin
~ # ~
Harry gave a snort of amusement that the Hufflepuff boy
figured it out in only a couple minutes what he had
forgotten. 'Definite signs of not being a daft moron there,
after all,' he thought.
Once he was done he called Dobby and asked if the elf
knew how to pop him to Justin Finch-Fletchley.
"Yes, Master Harry," he replied. "Dobby knows because
Raggy be a Potter elf. Dobby knows where Raggy knows
where young Mister Finchy be."
Harry couldn't quite figure that out. Instead, he focussed
on the answer of 'yes' replied straight up. "Great," he
replied. "I need to get changed into muggle and I'll be right
with you."
Once changed, he called Dobby and offered his hand.
"Ready when you are."
A quick slight squeeze of elf-popping and Harry popped
into what appeared to be a high ceilinged room. Modern
houses had ceilings at about eight/nine feet; houses from
the beginning of the century had ceilings at about
ten/eleven feet; Hogwarts had ceilings, for the most part,
at about thirteen feet; this one had ceilings at about
sixteen feet.
Dobby had popped him into what appeared to be a
somewhat modern lounge from the furniture, in a building
a few centuries old. Justin was just standing up from one
of the sofas and smiling. Like Harry, he was wearing jeans
and a polo shirt.
"Thank you, Dobby," said Harry, as the little elf popped
away again.
"Hello, Lord Potter," said Justin, giving him a slight bow.
"Welcome to Bedford Castle."
"My Lord of Lonsdale," said Harry, in return, dropping into
an over-done courtly bow. "Thank you for allowing me to
visit."
Then both boys grinned at each other and chuckled.
"So, Harry," said Justin. "What brings you to visit this
muggleborn?"
"Boredom," replied Harry. "That, plus I've also visited the
others of the Heirs and not you, as of yet. How could any
of us consider you an equal and yet allow that to stand?"
Justin gave him a considering look before he said, "Thank
you."
Harry just gave a slight shrug back.
"Come on," said the other. "I'll introduce you to the rest of
the family."
After meeting Justin's father again, meeting his younger
sister and mother for the first time and spending some
time with his peer Harry reminded Justin that Raggy could
side-along apparate him and likely a few more to wherever
he needed to go.
"Just make sure it's either to and from a private area of the
castle and to and from a wizarding home or area," he
explained. "Though you now have a familial seat on the
Wizengamot, it does not excuse you from the International
Statute regarding wizarding secrecy."
"Right-o, Harry," said Justin. "It had slipped my mind a
house elf could take us where we needed to go in the
wizarding world."
Harry grinned and said, "Trust me; it slips the mind of just
about every other wizard and witch, too. However, it
comes in handy getting to and from Diagon, that's for sure.
"Oh! And if you need to pick up any supplies from the
Alley, Raggy can go and buy those for you. No need to
make such a trip for not all that much, right? Tell Raggy he
can take the funds from my accounts as galleons and you
can pay me back later; I don't mind."
Justin nodded back. "Thank you."
Harry nodded back with a grin and said, "Time for me to
go. Thanks for letting me visit."
"You're welcome," replied Justin. "And I may have news
for you when we get back to Hogwarts." And grinned.
Harry thought the boy was up to something, but didn't feel
the need to push it.
"Right; well," said Harry. "Alliance meeting on Saturday.
See you then." Nodded and was elf-popped away by
Dobby.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
At the July meeting of the alliance, Harry was surprised
when Frank pulled him apart for a quick chat and for him
to provide answers to a very specific set of questions.
Harry was both surprised and not a little annoyed,
because it was something he'd also been thinking about.
He just didn't want to push it, too soon, because of asking
for the alliance to both accept Finch-Fletchley as a House
member and aid young CeeCee a week earlier.
This time the meeting was held at the Ogden residence
and Miles chaired, as per tradition.
When he asked Frank to table his 'business', Frank did so.
It had most other members gasp in shock.
However, the few among them who didn't immediately
flatly deny it also thought about it. And Frank put forward
the arguments in a logical and hard-to-counter manner.
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Chapter 524
"Damn it," Harry grumbled.
"Problem, Harry?" asked Frank.
"I was going to suggest the exact... same... thing... until
the issue with CeeCee came up," he grouched.
"And your reasons?" asked a somewhat surly MacMillan,
always the negative.
"Like with how House Malfoy can no longer be considered
Dark, neither can House Black. Lord Black, while always
trying to show a contra-indicative 'bad boy' image, is about
as light as they come. Yes, there are still those born of
House Black I would consider Dark; Bellatrix née Black
comes to mind. However, who else is left? The Tonkses
are of Black, yet all three are Light. Narcissa Malfoy is
turning out to be more Grey than Dark, from my recent
observations of her. And that, as they say, is it. With the
exception of Narcissa, all existing members of the Noble
and Most Ancient House of Black are firmly of the Light.
"So, yes, I'm supportive of bringing the House of Black into
the Alliance. However, as the House of Black is of equal
rank to Potter and Longbottom, if Lord Black brings his
House in, I'm recommending a change to the name of the
Alliance."
"To what?" demanded MacMillan.
"The Grand Alliance," he calmly replied. "The PotterLongbottom Alliance has become a great deal larger than
when it was first formed of six Houses. With Black and, I
hope, Malfoy joining, we'll have reached a total of more
than triple that original number.
"We now number eight voting members of the
Wizengamot. Bringing Black in gives us nine. I'd also like
us looking towards getting Davis the noble status it should
have been given decades ago."
When he saw Eugene's eyes widen in surprise, he smiled
and said, "We might not have been able to get it through
when it first came up, but it's something we have a decent
voting bloc for now. It's more than time. And it will give us
ten votes.
"Yes, it will mean a fair bit of politicking. And, where
necessary, I'm fully prepared to offer deals in return. But, I
believe we can get it done."
That had them all thinking. Frank was almost beaming at
him in happiness.
Looking at Frank, he gave a wry grin back and asked, "I
take it you approve?"
"Damned straight, I do!" Frank immediately replied. "A
Grand Alliance, like you're suggesting, is what your
grandfather and my father planned for, right from the
start."
Surprised, Harry returned, "I did not know that."
After debating it out for a while longer, the Alliance was
almost unanimous behind the idea of inviting the House of
Black to join. If Sirius accepted, then Frank would speak
with his own law-wizards and Ted Tonks about drafting a
new alliance charter document based on the existing one.
Things were moving ahead.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
When the meeting broke up, Harry was expecting to return
to the Black Townhouse on his own. However, he was
disabused of that belief, quite quickly. Both Fleur and
Daphne would be joining him straight from the meeting.
Thankfully, Sirius had already recognised them as 'family'
and adjusted the wards to reflect that. But, more than that,
they were considered like Harry considered family, rather
than how Sirius considered family. That meant they were
added to the wards as 'residents', not 'semi-welcome
visitors'.
Hermione was going to come, but was dragged aside by
both Alice and Adeline. He found out later that both had
set up a schedule for Hermione to begin her Lady of the
House 'etiquette' lessons. They'd be starting on the
Monday with a revision of what she knew, or thought she
knew.
For the time being, she was staying with her parents and
would continue to floo over to Longbottom Hall each day,
once her parents had headed off to work.
With admonishments to stay safe from both their sets of
parents, Fleur and Daphne followed Harry through the floo
to the Black Townhouse. And Harry immediately went in
search of Sirius to let him know both girls were, for the
time being, residents. Besides, they also needed to find
out which room was Fleur's.
Going to the office first and not finding him there, he went
down to the kitchen next. And that's where the old dog
was; chatting with Dorothy.
"Hey, Sirius, Dorothy," he said.
"Hey, Pup / Hello, Harry."
"Sirius, it appears Daphne and Fleur are joining us," he
declared. "I got outvoted. And, apparently, so did you."
While Sirius laughed, both girls told Harry off.
Daphne said, "We didn't, as you put it, 'outvote' you."
"Non," declared Fleur. "We simply informed you we would
be moving in."
Smiling at Sirius, Harry said, "As I said - outvoted."
"Oh! You are so sleeping on the couch―" said Daphne.
He quickly interrupted, "I have my own bed."
"It can be vanished," said Fleur.
"Wait!" said Dorothy, suddenly realising what their threats
meant. "You actually sleep together?"
"Ah!" said Harry. "We haven't explained to you what it
means for Fleur to owe me a Veela life debt, have we?"
"No," she frowned.
"Okay," sighed Harry. "This just got uncomfortable."
Thankfully, Sirius stepped in and 'rescued' him. "Because
Harry saved Fleur's life, without any thought on his part of
getting something out of it, Fleur's magic has deemed that
she must... well; she has to be with Harry, that way,
regularly.
"If she isn't, magic will force her more and more to seek
him out. If she tries to fight it, or Harry doesn't do the right
thing by her, she will slowly go insane before, eventually,
dying."
Dorothy gasped in shock. She stood there for a long
moment before she finally said, "Oh, you poor dear!"
Fleur gently smiled back and said, "It is, as they say,
alright. This is one of the risks of being a Veela. And 'Arry
has been wonderful to me. In that, I am very lucky. I know
of some who are not, or were not."
"Which brings up why we've sought you out, first, Sirius,"
said Harry. "Which room is Fleur's?"
"Not solved yet," said Sirius. "Do you think Hermione
would mind if Fleur has her room, for the time being?"
"No, of course not," said Harry. Glancing to the girls, he
said, "I'll take them upstairs so they can unpack."
After he led both girls out, Dorothy asked Sirius, "You're
okay with this?"
"Yes," said Sirius. "Harry will do right by all three of his
girls. Mind you, he begged both me and Samuel
Greengrass to make every effort to try and find a way out
of Fleur having to bond with him. The pity is, there was no
way without the girl dying. And Harry would have none of
that.
"He claimed, he went to all that trouble in saving the girl's
life, he wasn't about to let her up and die anyway.
"And, in case you were wondering, that is why there are
connecting doors between his bedroom and each of
theirs. That way, they can move between the bedrooms
without the rest of the house knowing what they are doing
or when."
"All three girls sleep with him?" she asked.
"According to Moony, at least Hermione is," he replied,
with a shrug. "We also know Fleur must be, otherwise she
wouldn't still be here. We don't know about Daphne."
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Chapter 525
"How does Remus know?" she asked.
Sirius smiled, tapped the side of his nose and said, "As a
werewolf, Moony's nose is quite sensitive. He could tell
when both dropped over on the day after the train trip
back from Hogwarts and the day Harry moved in."
"Ah!" she blushed.
He twinkled a grin back at her.
What he didn't know was that she already knew about
Harry and Hermione. Hermione had told her. However,
that was told to her in confidence; and she would not
breach that confidence.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
When Harry showed Fleur into Hermione's room, she took
a quick look around before walking into Harry's room
through the connecting door.
"This 'as to be 'Arry's room," she declared.
"It is," he replied. Then, indicating the other connecting
door, he said, "And, through that door, is Daphne's."
Both girls walked through the door before Daphne asked,
"Does Black Townhouse have a female house elf?"
Harry thought about it and replied, "Giggles must be one.
She wears a skirt."
Daphne gave a nod and called, "Giggles?"
One of Sirius's three elves popped in and Daphne asked,
"Are you or another of the Black elves female?"
"Giggles is female," she, for it was now clear she was,
replied.
Daphne gave a nod and pulled a shrunken trunk and pair
of bags out of her pocket. "This is the room Lord Black has
assigned me. Would you mind unpacking these for me?"
"No, young mistress," replied. "Giggles can do."
The elf snapped her fingers and both she and the
shrunken trunk and bags disappeared. Within moments,
there were little flashes of light about the room and from
the ensuite as Daphne's things were unpacked and put
away.
Both girls nodded and smiled to each other.
When the flashes stopped, Fleur said, "My turn. Giggles?"
"Yes, young mistress?"
Indicating back through the connecting door to Harry's
room, she said, "My room is on the other side of Lord
Potter's." Then she removed her own shrunken luggage
from her pockets and held it on the palms of her hands.
"As with Miss Greengrass, please unpack my effects into
that room. Thank you."
Moments later, both elf and luggage were gone.
Fleur lowered her hands and said, "All done."
Daphne was already moving about the room to ensure
everything was where she could find it. She only had to
move a few things to different locations to have things
where she wanted them.
Once she was done, they walked back through Harry's
room to Fleur's. And Fleur did the same.
"I think that's it," said Fleur, once she checked everything
a second time.
"Great," said Harry. "Let's go rescue Sirius. I've no doubt
he's getting the third-degree interrogation from Dorothy
about our relationship."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
When they went back down to the kitchen, it appeared
there was no condemnation from Dorothy. Harry was
worried that she, as a muggle, might not fully understand.
Apparently, though, she did.
When they'd settled to an afternoon tea, she said, "Now.
Sirius has explained to me what's going on between you
three... four. However, I have a favour to ask."
Harry shrugged and said, "Name it."
"Please don't... flaunt... your relationship around my
three," she asked. "I don't mind so much around Pat or
Sarah; they're old enough to understand. However, I do
not want Charlie... subjected... to it."
"Have no fear," said Harry. "Other than the occasional kiss
to the cheek or so, you'll see nothing else. Everything else
will only happen in the bedrooms. It is... unseemly... to act
otherwise in public."
She gave a satisfied nod and said, "Thank you."
Sirius looked to Fleur and asked, "I have a question for
you, though, Fleur."
"Yes?" she asked.
"Your allure," he explained. "Why is it not affecting me?"
"The life debt to 'Arry negates it to the point it no longer 'as
as much of an affect on males, except when I
deliberately... errr... actively increase it as a defensive
measure," she replied. "It is one side effect of the bond I
am pleased with."
"Aah," he said with a nod. "Thank you. I was worried it
might have too much of an effect on Stephen or Patrick.
They're both muggles... no-mags."
"The allure normally 'as less effect on muggles than it
does wizards," she smiled. "It was a worry for me, too;
before coming 'ere. In Pari', I visited the muggle world for
an afternoon to test it."
"So," said Harry, wanting to change the subject. "Where is
everyone else?"
"Mine are sightseeing," said Dorothy.
And Sirius smoothly added, "And Cissy has gone off to do
something to do with some research she wants to
commence."
"Well," said Harry. "Since Narcissa is not here. Starting to
get any relationship agreements for CeeCee yet?"
Sirius gave a nod and said, "One this very morning, as a
matter of fact. Caracticus Nott sent one for a Theodore
Nott. From the age described I'd say he's a boy in your
year."
Harry gave a snort and replied, "He was in my year;
Slytherin. He's the little bast― err... boy... who tried to
ambush me, Daphne and Hermione in Hogsmeade the
day Dumbles supposedly escaped from Saint Mungo's. He
tagged Daphne with a bludgeoning charm to the shoulder
and Hermione with a cutting charm to the arm before I got
my hands on him and... well, let's just say he attacked my
right foot with his testicles, quite firmly."
Sirius gave a snort and snickered.
"While he was lying on the ground in a foetal position I
was demanding he inform me of the method by which I
would execute him. He was lucky that the aurors were on
scene pretty damn quick.
"Before they portkeyed him away - under arrest, of course
- I told him that if he ever set foot in Hogwarts again, I'd
flat out immediately execute him where he stood. I
wouldn't even wait to see if he was facing me at the time."
"Execute?!" exclaimed Dorothy.
"Yes," Harry firmly replied, turning his attention to her.
"Many of wizarding Britain's laws are based on similar
muggle laws from many centuries ago that have since
been well and truly repealed. Heading back toward the
start of the millennium, actually. Some parts are very
feudal in nature - similar to how Lords of their fiefdoms
had ultimate authority, including high justice, over their
subjects/serfs/etcetera. Even with those antiquated old
laws, the Seven have what today would be even more
freedom than that granted diplomats under diplomatic
immunity. The Seven are immune from prosecution for, it
would seem, just about everything; though, there are
limits. However, those limits don't apply in this situation.
"Interfering in the practices of the Noble Houses in
protecting the bloodlines can easily get you killed. As One
of the Seven, just as Sirius is, in certain circumstances it is
within my power to execute someone who hurts, or even
threatens, someone bonded to one of us.
"Lying in ambush and initiating an attack on my betrothed
and concubine was more than sufficient grounds for me to
have killed the little sh― idiot. I let him live, with the
warning that the next time I see him in Hogwarts, I'll kill
him. I've also been informed, by the woman herself, that
Madam Bones reiterated that threat, once the idiot had his
injuries attended to.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 526
"As far as I know and believe Nott, together with a few
others, have all decided to transfer their schooling to
Durmstrang Institute in northern Europe."
Turning back to Sirius, he asked, "Anything underhanded
about the agreement?"
"No illicit charms or potions, if that's what you're asking,"
replied Sirius. "However, the... sod... included a few
clauses that are, frankly, quite insulting."
"Let me guess," snarked Harry. "Caracticus Nott is to
immediately become CeeCee's magical guardian. He's to
have full access to the Malfoy estate. That sort of thing?"
Sirius wasn't surprised Harry had figured that much out.
"Yep. And more. It was a concubine contract; not
agreement. No escape clauses for CeeCee or her family.
She would have to obey any and all commands given to
her by both Theodore Nott and the Head of House, if they
were different people. Those sort of things."
Harry growled and spat, "In other words, they wanted to
steal the Malfoy fortune and turn her into a sex slave."
"Yep," replied Sirius. "However, I think Nott only sent that
one as a warning. He and others will follow it up with ones
that aren't so... offensive."
"To show what CeeCee could be treated like if they were
of a mind to force the issue," said Daphne. "May we ask
what your response was?"
Sirius gave an evil grin and said, "I sent it back to him,
stating that someone was trying to get me to kill him by
'faking' such an insulting relationship agreement that
would lead me to going after him, Nott, with my wand
blazing. And that he might want to look into it."
"Clever," she said. "Who did he send it to?"
"Me," he replied.
"You kept a copy, though, right?" asked Harry. "If Nott then
tries to argue that you cannot, or should not, be her
magical guardian, his sending you the contract is proof he
believes you are the magical guardian."
"Of course," grinned Sirius.
"Good," said Daphne. "Nott's the biggest threat from the
Dark for that sort of thing. However, he might also be
under pressure from Parkinson.
"He also won't be the only one; not by a long cast. Others
to watch out for are: Ledbury, Urquhart, Montague,
Aldermaston, Belby, Carmichael, Vaisey, Harper,
Queensbury, Ancrum, Lofthouse, Haworth, Evercreech,
Morcott, Bexley and... Huntingdon, to name a few. All are
Houses that lean to the dark; all have boys of roughly the
right age at Hogwarts, now."
"Good God!" said Dorothy, not a little shaken. "And, you
think they'll all send such agreements?"
"No," replied Daphne. "Those are just the ones to watch
out for. Some, will send one or two different ones; many
won't, because they fear what Nott, Parkinson and their ilk
will do to them if they find out. Plus, there will be Houses
considered 'Grey', who will also send similar.
"I don't think any of the Light side Houses will send one,
unless CeeCee comes out publicly for the 'Light'. Many will
believe the apple does not fall far from the tree and,
therefore, will believe CeeCee to be Dark; or, at the very
least, she would be of the Dark Grey."
Dorothy, who'd been standing at the stove or sink for most
of that, came and sat down with a sigh. "It really is that big
a threat to Charlie, isn't it?" she asked.
"Yes," replied Daphne. "In the last few months leading up
to Christmas last year, I lived in almost perpetual fear my
father would eventually have to succumb to the amount of
pressure that was being brought to bear on him from the
Dark families demanding me in a concubine contract. He
very nearly did. It was Harry, here, who stepped forward to
'rescue' me from the clutches of either Malfoy or Nott.
"Before the First Task of the Tri-Wiz, Malfoy... Lucius, that
is... was looking the clear favourite to eventually succeed.
Harry's destroying Malfoy's reputation, both senior and
junior, during the First Task had Malfoy lose that position.
But, that only allowed Nott to become the favourite, with
the help of Parkinson.
"When Harry, under urgings from the Potter-Longbottom
Alliance, had his law-wizard, Ted Tonks, approach my
father with a Betrothal Agreement that allowed all sorts of
escape clauses with no pressure on me, I think my
parents must have cried in joy. Father was very quick to
accept."
"It all happened in just over a week," explained Harry.
"Daphne approached me on behalf of her father with a
tentative request. About nine days later she became my
concubine."
"That quickly?" asked a very surprised Dorothy. "I would
have thought―"
Harry was already shaking his head. "Most times, you'd be
right. There'd be a great deal of negotiating, business
arrangements would also be included, to and fro and to
and fro. However, this was all about protecting Daphne
and House Greengrass from those trying to poach her and
it. There was a certain sense of urgency to it."
Daphne said, "It might also help you to know there was no
requirement for me to... shall we say... provide special
services. The concubine agreement was written to have
me tied up in such an agreement and, therefore, not
available to any other family. At any time, even now, either
one of us can go to Gringotts, be tested to ensure we
were not under any compulsions to do so and have the
agreement annulled."
"That was included for Daphne's benefit," said Harry. "It
was written that way so, if she found someone she'd fallen
in love with and wanted to aim towards a Betrothal
Agreement with that person, she could walk away from
ours without any penalty."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 527
"However," she said. "After spending only a short few
months with Harry, I've come to determine I do not believe
I'll find anyone who represents a better pick for me than
Harry. I've... fallen in love with him."
As she blushed a little, Harry turned, grinned at her and
kissed her on the cheek. "I'm feeling the same," he softly
said.
Now much relieved after what she'd just heard, Dorothy
smiled at them.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Narcissa had just left the secure offices of the Records
Office in the Ministry, after having first gone to Saint
Mungo's.
At both locations she had to use quite a bit of the off-book
money Lucius had stashed at the Manor to grease palms
to get the records she wanted. All of them related to births
and deaths over the past one hundred years.
When she was at Saint Mungo's, the record keeper was
quick to also figure out what she was after and aided her
in supplying a research document by one of the paediatric
Healers relating to an increase in birth defects in
pureblood-born children. The keeper had ensured that
document was placed on top.
When she returned back to the Townhouse later that
afternoon she began to collate the two pieces of
information from the Ministry and the hospital into an order
she could use to make sense of it all. And, before she
even delved too far, the information was both astonishing
and appalling to her.
Still births were fifteen times higher in purebloods than
muggleborns and five times higher in halfbloods. Birth
defects, if you included squibbing as a birth defect, were
almost all attributed to purebloods, with five of the
remaining six percent attributed to halfbloods. Slightly less
than one in one hundred were born to muggleborns.
On a whole, almost twenty percent of all births were either
stillborn or born with defects. Over the past twenty years
that had gone up to thirty percent. And of those, only a
small fraction were not from muggleborn or halfbloods.
It was very clear that the pureblood community of magical
Britain were, by only marrying among themselves, killing
themselves off. It was no wonder the number of
recognised Houses were diminishing at an alarming rate.
It was not, as most people suspected, mainly due to the
Dark Lord or his predecessors.
The question was, what to do with the information to make
it useful to turn the decline away from this disaster?
Then, she knew. She needed to take the information to the
mothers - the 'ladies' of the Houses, who were the true
protectors of the heritages.
It was one of those mothers, who had collected the
information previously, that formed the basis of the
research paper at Saint Mungo's of which she'd managed
to get hold of a copy. It was mothers, who were the
records assistant at the hospital and who aided her at the
Ministry.
Narcissa sat back and allowed the slight frown on her face
to slowly change into a smirk. She was going to start a
secret society; one dedicated to halting this mistake in its
tracks.
She even had a name for it - The Tapestry Circle. It would
be so named because of the great family tapestries that
showed the bloodlines of the great Houses. And the
second, though secret, member would be Dorothy Wilkins.
Narcissa vowed Corina - or Charlotte, as she was now
named - would be the first she would save from the fate of
having their own child or children stillborn or born
defective. CeeCee would not be the 'broodmare' of a
British pureblood. Not as long as her name was Narcissa
Venus Malfoy née Black.
Now she needed to go talk to the woman.
With a sigh, she thought, 'If I'm to have any hope of being
in Corina's life, I need to get over my... dislike... of
muggles. Siri, as Head of House, could easily forbid it.'
She'd connect, mother to mother, with a mutual desire to
protect Corin― CeeCee. She was pleased the girl had
come up with that 'nickname' based on her known original
initials. It made it easier than trying to pick whether to call
her 'Corina' or 'Charlotte'; even if 'CeeCee' sounded quite
similar to 'Cissy'.
That had her smile as she made her way down to the
kitchen.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
The next morning and after almost eight months since first
given the task of redesigning the 'muggle experience'
course, plus assisting in the redesign of the Misuse of
Muggle Artefacts Statute, Arthur was finally ready to
present both to his nominal superior, Madam Bones.
His first job was to find new offices large enough to
accomplish what was needed, then find ministry personnel
to fill it. He expected the first to be hard and the second to
be easy. However, the reverse proved true. He was given
more than sufficient space on level three with the
Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, one
level above the DMLE. He thought it would make a good
home for his expanded team, as it put him in close
proximity to the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad,
Obliviator Headquarters and the Muggle-Worthy Excuse
Committee. The three sections he would most often be
working in close proximity with, anyway.
However, he had to go to Madam Bones while she was
still Acting Minister and practically demand he be allowed
to engage in what could be considered bigoted hiring
practices, as he especially needed to employ those who
were muggleborn or muggle-raised. He did also hire from
pre-existing departments still, as he needed those with
Ministry experience to deal with inter-office issues.
Once he had the people starting, he was having them
immediately brainstorm ideas for a brand new 'modern
muggle experience' training course. And they came up
with things he'd never even heard of before.
They ran the course among themselves as a trial run.
Then looked to what went wrong and made changes; then
ran it again, altered it, ran it again, altered it again, and
again. It was on the fifth generation of the course they
thought they finally had something that would work.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 528
The course involved living in a group of muggle homes
that were once collectively a coastal 'holiday camp' the
Ministry were able to acquire for a song. Since the 1970s,
with cheaper International airline flights and a burgeoning
British muggle economy, too many muggles were now
choosing to holiday in places like coastal Spain than
holiday in their own country at such camps for such camps
to remain financially viable.
They then had experts refurbish it to what they needed.
Thankfully, it also had a small conference hall, communal
kitchen and other useful amenities.
However, not the entire course would be spent at the
'muggle camp'. There were also day trips to things like the
cinemas, riding in cabs, driving lessons, amusement
parks, modern muggle shopping centres, etcetera.
With it ready, they ran their course for the sixth time. It
included things like: PowerPoint presentations, the
internet, conference rooms, photo cameras, video
cameras, security cameras, video players, computers,
electronic locks, driving lessons, muggle IDs, modern
muggle home life and a host of others.
They also had to be careful with how fast they educated
those on the course, as it became quite apparent quite
quickly that too fast and little information was retained.
The people being taught went into information overload or
worldview alteration shock. Their initial idea of a 'one
week' course very quickly blew out to 'three weeks'. For
almost the entire time, they would wear muggle clothing,
muggle jewellery and make up for the women. They were
taught to use every muggle appliance in a muggle home;
including the television, video player and telephone;
kitchen devices; alarm clocks; and home alarm systems,
to name a few.
At the end of the three weeks the students' written exams
included, for example, a requirement to write down
matters relating to words and concepts around: electricity,
electronics, telephones, cellphones, the internet, the
cinema, movies, automobiles, cars, cabs, computers,
security systems and others. For the practical exams they
might have to purchase a few odd items in grocery stores,
department stores and convenience stores; drive a car,
change the tyre - without using magic - and fill it with
petrol; or even operate a video camera, design their own
short PowerPoint presentation and operate a cell - or
mobile - phone to call someone.
The test lasted most of the day. The morning would start
with the written test before morning tea, before they would
then spend the late morning in a practical examination
within the 'muggle camp'. Finally and after lunch, they
would go out into the muggle world and put their
knowledge to the test on an immersive practical
examination.
The test was rigorous and required only a sixty percent
correct mark to pass - except on one point. That one
required a one hundred percent pass grade or the entire
course was considered a fail. The
attendees/students/whatever had to recognise and identify
when a camera was pointed at them; or was even likely to
be pointing at them. They had to identify traffic cameras
and community security cameras mounted on the walls of
buildings, security cameras inside buildings (including
ones under those little plastic domes mounted in ceilings),
one's in the hands of pedestrians in the street, hidden and
not so hidden; and that, with the introduction of cameras in
cellphones, how to tell if one was being pointed at you and
was recording you.
That last point had a few, who were their test subjects for
the course and were purebloods, almost fainting in fear
and terror of what it meant.
As for the Statute, Arthur only oversaw its development. Of
course, he only oversaw the development of the muggle
experience course, too. However, that one was more
hands-on for him. Once he had the team rewriting the
Statute properly briefed and prepared, he let them go and
get it done.
The new Statute had a specific clause that stated that
once a 'muggle artefact' was properly purchased by a
wizard or witch, as per both wizarding and muggle law, it
would no longer be considered a 'muggle artefact'; but,
would henceforth be known as a 'muggle made' wizarding
artefact. And 'muggle made' wizarding artefacts could be
legally enchanted. Further, any object not properly
purchased as per the above, the penalties for enchanting
them became far more stringent. Because of the large
preponderance of already existing muggle artefacts that
had been enchanted, just as Harry demonstrated during
that aborted trial, a blanket pardon would be issued for
them. However, they would all have to be identified and
registered within the first six months of the Statute
becoming law.
With both the course outline and new Statute in hand,
Arthur took and presented both to Bones in her office.
Showing surprise at the thickness of both documents,
Bones looked to Arthur and asked, "This is the final draft
of both?"
"Yes, Ma'am," he replied. "I would suggest you fortify
yourself for what you're about to read when you decide to
read them. Quite frankly, Ma'am, I now have a feeling of
awe when it comes to muggles with what they've
managed to accomplish without magic. And those security
cameras, quite frankly, scare the magic out of me.
"It is my strong belief that no magically-raised witch or
wizard should be permitted to enter the muggle world until
they have a full understanding of just what they're likely to
come across. How it is the Statute of Wizarding Secrecy
has not already been irrevocably shattered is, quite
frankly, a miracle.
"I personally believe, and my muggleborn and -raised
agree with me, the higher-ups in muggle society are
already completely aware of us and are, themselves,
working towards protecting the Statute. There truly can be
no other explanation."
Without a change of expression, Bones nodded back and
said, "Thank you, Arthur. I shall read these and get back to
you as soon as I can."
Knowing a dismissal when he heard it, Arthur gave a slight
bow and replied, "Thank you, Ma'am." Then turned about
and walked out, closing the door behind him.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 529
As soon as the door closed, Bones smiled. She already
knew the muggle governments were actively suppressing
evidence of the wizarding world. Why someone would
think otherwise was, as Lord Potter would say, 'daft
thinking'. She, herself, worked closely with the muggle
intelligentsia - specifically MI-5 and, recently, the National
Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) - in rooting out and
suppressing intelligence gathered about the wizarding
world from those deemed a threat to the Statute. Of
course, that threat did not include the muggle British
Government.
When her brother and his wife were murdered by the
Death Eaters in the last couple of years of the War, she
had risked everything as a Senior Auror at the time,
including what would amount to a lifetime sentence in
Azkaban, by going to the muggle policing agencies and
begging them for help. Her identity was quickly proven
and she was soon hustled up to meet with the higher
echelons of both the MPS (Metropolitan Police Service)
and MI-5; the 'brass', as they called it.
From those meetings she quickly became an 'asset' for
MI-5 and, recently, the NCIS. She already knew and had
read the documents Arthur had only just then handed to
her, as agents for both organisations were already
working, incognito, in the man's new Office. It was they
who were the driving force of both the new 'muggle
experience' course and newly developed Statute.
Setting both documents aside, she sent a coded message
via owl to both intelligence organisations. [tt]AW pres docs
x2[/tt].
As preplanned, she would present the new Statute for 'first
reading' at the next Wizengamot session held the next
month. It would be seen as too fast to present it at the July
Wizengamot general meeting the next day. Or, maybe she
could at least give it the first reading the next day, giving
the members time to adjust to it.
'Hmm...' she thought
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
At 'The Kennel', Narcissa had already convinced Dorothy
she was being honest about her intent to start 'The
Tapestry Circle'. It wasn't hard after she laid out for the
other woman the documents she'd managed to collect and
collate from the Ministry and hospital.
"But, why show me?" asked Dorothy.
Firmly, Narcissa replied, "Because, I will not have my
daughter by blood forced to marry some British or French
pureblood and birth squibs and others with birth defects. I
will not have Corina... Charlie... suffer the same pain I
did."
That was enough to get the muggle woman on board.
"Why the name 'The Tapestry Circle'?" she'd asked.
That led to Narcissa taking the woman up to see the Black
family tapestry and what role they played in wizarding
Britain.
"Yes. Sirius showed us this and told us how he had it
restored," said Dorothy. "He also showed us Charlie's
name." And pointed to where the name Corina Cephei
Malfoy now appeared next to Draco Abraxas Malfoy
branching off Narcissa Venus Black and Lucius Abraxas
Malfoy.
Narcissa nodded and said, "The Black Family Tapestry. It
represents the bloodlines relating to House Black. It is
from that and how other pureblood families have the
same, which led me to the name 'The Tapestry Circle'."
"But, 'Circle'?" asked Dorothy.
Narcissa smiled and said, "No one takes much notice of
'circles'. If we'd named it 'committee', 'tribunal' or 'panel' or
something more serious, people would want to know more
about it. Circles... Ladies' Clubs... are not seen as
something important. By naming it a 'Circle' we'll be able
to hide it's true purpose and operate in secret.
"Secondly, by giving it the name 'The Tapestry Circle'
husbands and such will think of it as something like a..."
"Sewing Circle?" prompted Dorothy.
Narcissa smiled in understanding and replied, "Exactly.
Nothing for the menfolk to worry about."
That had Dorothy completely on board with what Narcissa
wanted to accomplish. Circle membership was now two.
She also had plans to bring both the Granger and
Greengrass girls into the secret, as well.
With four, she'd be able to make inroads among those
mothers she knew had also suffered the same pain she
did. Their husbands and Lords of Houses had tried to hide
the information, but what she had already gathered
identified them all; or, at least, most of them.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Harry, Daphne and Fleur were currently up in Fleur's
room. The first two were helping the third with studying for
her NEWTs.
Neither Harry nor Daphne knew the majority of the work;
only that which led up to fourth year. However, for the
work above that year they were both able to provide a list
of questions from the texts and ask them.
Of course, they had to find English translations of the
books, first. But, that proved no hardship. They simply
asked her the names of the books in English and then
sent Dobby and Giggles out to find such copies. The two
elves scoured the bookstores of magical Britain and found
almost all of them within a day.
The two elves loved the work and thought themselves on
'treasure hunts'. They also made a lovely pair, who suited
one another. Dobby, always 'fizzing' with energy and
magic to spare; and Giggles, far more laid back and calm.
Dobby wore his grey keikogi with its silver belt - and Harry
still didn't know what led a Potter before him to chose
Japanese martial arts training-wear as the wear for the
Potter house elves - and Giggles wore a black skirt, white
blouse and light black jacket, with the Black crest
monogrammed in silk on the breast similar to the Potter
crest monogrammed in grey on Dobby's jacket. Sirius took
the idea to dress his elves from the Potter elves, but had
decided to go with contemporary British 'servants' dress.
From those books both Harry and Daphne learned that
there were quite a few incantations that could be given in
either English or French. That led to them wanting to know
if there were incantations of spells in other languages.
"Of course, there is," said Fleur. "Yes, most of the
incantations are a sort of false-Latin - of which both
English and French derive - but not all. For example, while
'pack' for the packing charm is also 'pack' in French, there
are others that differ."
Harry muttered, 'What about pseudo-Latin to English?"
Thinking of the banishing charm, Depulso, as an example,
he looked to Fleur's trunk at the foot of her bed and gave
the wand movements for the charm, while incanting,
"Push!" And, surprisingly, the trunk moved a little. It was
nowhere near as much as it should have done if he'd used
the correct incantation, but it was at least something.
"Hunh!" he exclaimed.
"Push?" asked Daphne, a little wryly. "Really?"
He gave a half-hearted shrug and replied, "I thought it
might work and it's only one syllable."
"It won't, really," she said. "The incantation is part of the
spellcrafting that goes into the charm. It didn't work that
well because... 'Push'... was not the incantation that paired
with the wand movement to cast that charm."
Harry gave a half-shrug and said, "I thought it might work.
It was just a test."
She added, "You'd be better off learning silent casting for
your spells than replacing the incantation with another."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 530
Harry was expecting the July session of the Wizengamot
to be just another boring meeting of the 'old fuglies', as
he'd come to mentally call them. However, that went right
out the window when an item of new business was raised
by Parkinson.
He stood and declared, for the record, that an unknown
daughter of the line of Malfoy had been found.
Harry frowned and tried to figure out what the man was up
to, when he then declared she had been found in the
custody of muggles with foreign accents.
"She was clearly stolen from her parents by these―"
"Objection!" roared Sirius, shooting to his feet.
As the Chief Warlock banged his gavel to try and restore
order, Sirius snarled, "She, most certainly, was not...
stolen... you uneducated moron! She was dumped by her
own blood father, Lucius Malfoy!"
"Order!" roared Ogden, repeatedly banging his gavel on
the desk before him.
As Parkinson at first reared back, he surged back forward
and hissed, "So. You. Say!"
Not getting the order he wanted, Ogden then drew his
wand and fired off a quick triple of cannonblast charms,
before he surged to his own feet and spun to glare at both
men. "E-nough!" he roared, himself.
When both men shut up and both kept an eye on each
other while glaring at Ogden, Ogden looked to Sirius and
said, "Lord Black. I take it by your 'objection' you actually
have a 'point of order'?"
"I do!" he more quietly snapped.
"Then I shall hear it," said Ogden. "But, first, both of you
will sit your butts down and try to be civil. You are both
supposed to be, after all... Lords."
As soon as Sirius sat, Harry was in his ear, whispering,
"The onus is on Parkinson to prove his claims; not on you
to prove your own claims, otherwise. Do not rise to the
bait! Force him to provide proof."
While Harry was unsure Sirius heard him and accepted
what he said, he hoped he had.
"Lord Black," said Ogden. "I will now hear your point of
order."
Then Sirius proved he had heard and recognised the
wisdom of Harry's words. He stood and said, "Lord
Parkinson claims young Miss Malfoy, the rightful heir
apparent of the Magical House of Malfoy, was stolen. I call
on him to prove it before making such... wild accusations."
"And I call on Lord Black to prove she was not," Parkinson
snapped back, without even waiting for the call.
"Lord Parkinson will wait until he is called upon before
speaking, in future," Ogden firmly said. "Lord Black."
Sirius replied, "The onus is not on me to prove she was
not. The onus is on Lord Parkinson to prove his own
claims, for he is the one to have made them. It is he who
put forth she was stolen from her rightful birth parents. I
demand he present the evidence of his claims."
Ogden gave a nod and turned back to Parkinson, "Lord
Parkinson; your evidence, please."
Parkinson glowered back for a long moment before he
huffed, "I have no such evidence other than that she must
obviously have been stolen―"
"Point of order!" sang out Marchbanks. "Chief Warlock,
he's doing it again."
"Lord Parkinson!" said Ogden. "You will provide your
evidence or you will retract your remarks!"
Clearly frustrated, Parkinson snarled, "I withdraw my
remarks." He gave it a bare moment before he continued,
"However, I call on Lord Black to provide the evidence she
is both who she claims to be and how she was not, as I
suspect, stolen from her birth parents."
Ogden gave a nod before turned back to Sirius. "Lord
Black."
"Chief Warlock," said Sirius. "As I have already stated,
there is no onus on me to prove anything. The goblins'
own inheritance test procedures were accepted by them
that showed 'CeeCee', for that is how she prefers to be
called, is the rightful heiress apparent of the Magical
House of Malfoy. That proof was sought and acquired on
the day of the reading of the Late Lucius Malfoy's Will, as
per Gringotts's and wizarding Britain's laws. It is not the
right of this body to demand further."
"He's right," said someone. Harry didn't recognise the
voice.
"He is," muttered Ogden. Looking back at Parkinson, he
said, "Your demand is rightfully rejected, Lord Parkinson.
Move on."
Clearly not getting what he obviously wanted, background
information on CeeCee, Parkinson tried his next tactic.
"As the Magical House of Malfoy is now reduced to only
one Heiress," he tried. "It behooves us to ensure she is
paired with a pureblood of equal―"
"Point of order!" roared Bones. However, she wasn't the
only one; just the loudest and, probably, fastest.
Looking at how clearly pissed the Head of the DMLE was,
as she surged to her feet. Harry smirked and quietly
muttered, "Oops! He's done it now."
"Madam Bones!" Ogden immediately stated.
"How dare―" she hissed, clearly furious. "How dare Lord
Parkinson even attempt to put forth... what it is quite clear
he's attempting to put forth. It is not for this body to
interfere with House relationships. That has not just been
policy, but has been codified law for centuries. Lord
Parkinson will retract his remarks... now."
Ogden said, "I couldn't have put it better, myself." He
turned to Parkinson and said, "Lord Parkinson... retract."
Still frustrated, but not a little fearfully as he looked back at
a furiously glaring Bones, he still tried to sneer and said, "I
retract my remarks. I have no further business."
Then he dropped back into his seat with a scowl, crossed
his arms and refused to look at anyone.
Harry turned to Sirius and quietly said, "Now, more than
ever, we have to protect CeeCee. This was just another
'shot across the bow'."
Unhappily, Sirius only nodded.
The next item of business was Madam Bones presenting
the new Statute for the Misuse of Muggle Items, not
Artefacts, in its 'first reading'. Harry was surprised it had
taken them so long, considering the old one had been
ripped away over six months earlier, leaving a gaping hole
in the laws.
With a copy of it before him, he'd read it over the
upcoming month and see what changes he thought it
would need. Without assignments taking up his 'summer
vacation' time he could see he'd be easily able to find the
time to do it.