Chapter 391
They decided that the Lord and Lady's
offices would have wall sockets for the
possible installation of computers at a
later date; together with a phone line
each, for contacting the non-magical
world. The family's wing would have
power provided to the private sitting room,
which would become the 'multimedia'
room and contain the television and like
equipment.
The electrician also spoke of special runic
arrays that could be installed around the
entirety of the new multimedia room, and
where the computers would be installed
in each office. They acted as a sort of
magical 'Faraday cage', and kept magic
performed outside the room or area from
permeating the room or area. He claimed
that, though he was a squib, he
discovered that runes were not beyond
him; and had a witch relative teach him all
she knew on the subject.
In exchange, the three taught the
electrician the anti-magic runic arrays
they'd helped develop for the corridors
and other public areas within Hogwarts.
And installed those inside the electrician's
own array, in a 'nested' fashion.
The rest of the house would remain free
of electrical devices, so magic could be
cast through the house.
When the day came for the electricians to
commence their work, the three made
use of the portkey given to them by Sirius
to finally have that tropical island
honeymoon.
They loved it.
The island was barely large enough to be
considered an actual island. However, it
was more than big enough for the three
bondmates. The small house located not
too far from the edge of a beautiful white
sand beach had made plentiful use of
space expansion charms on the inside.
The house was outfitted with a decent
sized combined library and office, an
extravagant kitchen, a master bedroom
with an oversized king-size bed with
attached ensuite. The ensuite was fitted
with a magical Jacuzzi whirlpool bath,
shower and adjacent toilet. The walk-in
robe had plenty of hanging and shelf
space for all their clothes. And extra
bedrooms for guests, though they had
none.
Outside had a lovely combined BBQ and
entertaining area. A permanent gazebo
down on the edge of the sand for the
beach, with running fresh water. An
outside shower to rinse off with before
heading back inside was attached.
Everything else was just extraneous to
their needs.
The first two days was spent exploring the
island; the third was spent swimming and
relaxing. On the fourth day, Hermione
calmly walked outside, nude, to go for a
swim. Which had the other two glance at
one another, grin and immediately shuck
their clothes to join her, frolicking in the
shallows of the gentle surf.
By the time they returned to Britain, all
three had full body tans, were very
relaxed and sported mile wide grins.
Sirius took one look at them and burst out
laughing.
"We now know why you headed for the
island to recuperate from Azkaban, Sirius,"
said Hermione. "It's love-ly."
"And I had no idea Harry was such a good
cook," said Daphne, sitting on one of the
couches in Black Manor with a dreamy
sigh. "He's even better than the elf cooks
at Hogwarts."
"I... wouldn't go that far," muttered Harry,
while blushing.
"No, she's right," disagreed Hermione.
"You are."
"We went spear fishing using bubblehead
charms, one day, and caught a couple of
fish," said Daphne. "As soon as we
returned to the beach Harry descaled,
gutted and cleaned them; before lightly
frying them up on the BBQ to be added to
a lovely salad with a lemon and pepper
vinaigrette dressing. It was de-vine!"
While Hermione and Daphne seemed lost
in their memories, Sirius turned to Harry
and grinned. "Maybe it's a recipe you can
teach Chuckles and your house elves."
"Honestly, Sirius," said Harry. "It was just
something I thought up on the spot and
threw together. It was no big deal."
"Oh, but that wasn't the best meal, I
think," said Hermione, suddenly. "He
made this dish, which was quite simple
really. He cut up a rack of lamb ribs and
lightly fried them. Then he simply
up-ended a jar of plum jam into the fry
pan, and brought the whole lot back up to
a simmer, and left it like that for about
fifteen minutes.
"Now, I thought it was going to be way too
sweet to eat. But, it wasn't! They were
delicious!"
"But, messy," added Daphne.
"Leaving it to simmer for so long allows
the sugar in the jam to caramelise,"
muttered Harry. "That cancels out a lot of
the sucrose sweetness, leaving behind the
fructose from the plums. Not a difficult
dish. And it really only takes a few minutes
to prepare."
"So, what you're saying is... Harry can
cook," said Sirius.
"Cook is too... unrefined... a word to use,"
said Daphne.
"He... chefs... food," said Hermione. "He...
prepares it the way food should be
prepared. He... oh, I don't know! But,
'cooks' is definitely the wrong word. It's
too... pedestrian for what Harry does."
Meanwhile, Harry was blushing away like
mad.
Sirius, seeing his godson blush so much,
just laughed. "Maybe we can convince
Harry to cook for the family, one night,"
he chuckled. "If he's as good as you say he
is, we may have found a bit of a career for
him."
"He's cooked breakfast at Hermione's
parent's place," said Daphne. "Usually, it's
just breakfast. But he can lay on a good
spread just doing that, too."
Finally returning to the manor, the
electrician awaited them.
"As per your specifications, everything's
done," he explained. "As you requested
I've also set up your electricity and
telephone account bills to be sent to the
'muggle' address for Gringotts, and the
goblins will ensure they're paid on time,
each time, they fall due.
"I hope you don't mind me doing so, but
I've also sent my bill directly to the goblins
for payment. So, you don't need to take
care of that."
"That's fine, on both counts," replied
Harry. "And thank you, very much. As I've
already explained, having electricity in the
home is something my wife, Hermione,
kind of insisted upon. She loves her
television shows and videos."
"Just hope she doesn't become addicted
to the Internet, like my eldest boy,"
grinned the electrician. "We had to get a
second telephone line installed, else we'd
never have a free telephone for others to
ring us, or us to be able to ring them."
Hermione perked up. "You can have more
than one?" Before she immediately
answered her own question.
Chapter 392
"Of course you can have more than one.
After all, some people run offices from
inside their homes. They'd need a phone
line for each... and probably another line
for a fax machine. I don't know why I
didn't think of that."
As Hermione rambled a bit, Harry just
sighed and turned to the electrician.
"You'd better install another two phone
lines. I have a feeling we'll need at least
one more before too long."
"Well," replied the electrician, scratching
the back of his head in a fashion similar to
how Harry did the same. "I can easily have
the second line up and installed in a
couple of hours. The telephone cable has
enough individual strands to allow two
lines to run off one cable. However, I'm
going to need to run another cable back to
the street to have a third or fourth line
installed."
"Do it," said Harry. "I take it you've buried
the line with a pull through in place?"
"Aye, I have," replied the electrician.
"Then, do it," said Harry. "It's not needed
right away, though. Do it when you've got
time.
"Call Jeeves when you need to enter the
manor. I'll let him know you can come in
to install the extra lines."
"That'll make it easy," replied the
electrician. "Yeah, I'll do that."
"In the meantime, are both power and the
telephone line now connected?" asked
Hermione.
"Aye to both, ma'am," replied the older
man. He then handed her a piece of paper
with a telephone number written on it.
"This is your new telephone number. I'll
let you know what the numbers are for
the other lines once they're installed and
connected."
"Thank you," she softly said with a wide
smile, accepting the slip.
As soon as the electrical contractor left,
Hermione was immediately on the phone
to call her parents and let them know
their 'new' telephone number. She even
used the opportunity to demonstrate the
use of the telephone to Daphne.
Harry was happy to leave Hermione to it,
as it made her almost ecstatic to be able
to use the muggle communication device.
Apparently, the use of owls was 'alright'
but instant communication via telephone
was much better. Her delight might have
been tempered a little if the Grangers had
a fireplace that could be connected to the
Floo network; but, even if they did, it
wouldn't be. The risk of some muggle
not-in-the-know seeing the fireplace used
in such a manner was too great a risk.
Therefore, owls were the only form of
communication allowed a 'muggleborn'
household.
Of course, that decision from the ministry
did not include the use of the
communication mirrors, or patronuses
with the audible component. They were,
essentially, unknown to the Ministry; and,
therefore, were not seen as a form of
communication.
By the time the three left Potter Retreat
for Kings Cross station at the end of their
summer break, the manor had been wired
up with the two extra telephone lines.
And a network cable had been run from
the Lord's office to the Lady's office, for
future use of an internal network and
Internet connection. Harry couldn't see
the value in it, but Hermione seemed
almost desperate for it, so he relented.
The final installation of the extra
telephone line and network cable had
Hermione then dragging the three of
them to a computer store in 'town'; where
two IBM compatible computers, two
printers with a ream of A4 paper each, a
high speed 28.8Kb modem, and a couple
of other peripherals were all purchased
and installed in the two offices in the
manor.
While Hermione set them up, claiming she
had experience setting up her mother and
father's workplace network, and her
father's computer at home in his den,
Harry and Daphne just stood back and
watched.
"I've been itching to get my hands on
this," she said, still unboxing computer
equipment. "It's called Windows 95 and it
was only released eleven months ago,
about a week before we returned to
Hogwarts after the summer break. Using
this means we don't have to use a socket
program, such as WinSock, to connect to
the Internet via the modem.
"I'm also looking forward to seeing what
the new versions of Netscape and Internet
Explorer are like. But, I've heard bad
things about Windows Mail..."
As Hermione continued to 'rabbit' on,
Daphne turned to Harry and quietly asked,
"Do you have any idea what she's talking
about?"
"Nope," he just as quietly replied. "I think I
read somewhere something about
computers communicating with networks
with modems, though. Dudley's had his
connect to something called a
'Bee-esS-esS'."
"Bee-Bee-esS," corrected Hermione,
barely breaking off her description on the
IBM compatible computer she was now
starting to set up. "It's an acronym that
stands for Bulletin Board System. You
could think of it as the precursor to the
modern Internet..."
It took Hermione about two hours to set
up both computers, another two hours on
the phone with a local Internet provider to
arrange a temporary volume-use Internet
account, and three hours of reading
manuals to figure out how to get the first
computer to share it's connection with the
second computer.
However, she finally got it all running as
she liked it; but, due to the lateness of the
hour, had to firmly be told that she could
show the other two how to use the
computer and the Internet the next
morning.
Harry and Daphne became somewhat
proficient by the time they had to leave to
return to Hogwarts for, as Hermione
smirkingly called them, 'Newbies' in the
use of the World Wide Web and Word for
Windows.
After being dropped off via portkey onto
Platform 9¾, this time going on their own
and without chaperone, the three
bondmates immediately boarded the train.
As they walked into a free compartment in
a carriage somewhat near where their
friends knew they could find them,
Daphne was gushing about Microsoft
Word.
"I cannot believe how much easier Word
would make writing assignments," she
gushed. "You can move words around on
the parchment and put them in all sorts of
different orders. And means you can write
everything on there before you write out
your final draft."
"Hang on," said Harry, interrupting. "Let's
set the compartment up, first. Then you
two can talk about word processors."
That had both his wives nodding in
agreement.
Standing outside the compartment they'd
chosen, Harry began with the necessary
space expansion charm. "A bit bigger,
methinks," he muttered, raising his wand.
He set about making the compartment
even larger in both lateral directions than
on their previous trip. Again, the window
was enlarged both vertically and
horizontally. It now ran floor to ceiling and
was almost three times as wide to allow
plenty of light within, and improve the
view. The bench seats were transfigured
into far more comfortable plush
upholstered couches and adorned with
family crests; and, similar to last time, a
table was created between the seats
nearer the window.
Chapter 393
From a compartment able to seat six, or
eight at a squeeze, they now had a
compartment able to seat about two
dozen or more in comfort.
"Your turn, Daphne," said Harry, stepping
out of the way. "I loved the finish you used,
last time."
Daphne frowned for a moment before she
began gesturing with her wand. The plush
upholstery developed an even more
intricate pattern of mixed House crests
and was again dominated by the Houses
of Potter, Greengrass, Granger, Black,
Davies, Zabini, Longbottom, Abbott and
Bones; just like last time. However, with all
the extra room this time, she also added
in Lovegood, and a few others Harry didn't
recognise. Then she turned her wand to
the walls and changed the English oak
finish to the same European yew with a
deeper lacquer finish.
"Nice!" said Harry.
Stepping back, Daphne said, "You're turn,
Hermione."
Hermione then stepped forward and
raised her own wand changing the gas
lighting to polished filigreed brass, clear
glass surrounds and multiple gas heads
with larger gas bags to provide far more
light. Then quickly transfigured the cheap
linoleum flooring into a fine weave soft
patternless carpet in a deep blue with a
deep underlay with a large Potter Crest
located right in the middle of the floor
with the bottom pointing back at the door.
Finally, she transfigured the internal wall
with it's door leading back into the
passageway to match the rest of the
compartment. Then transfigured the plain
glass to frosted and put the Potter Crest
engraved into the glass of the door so it
was clearly seen from the passageway.
As she finished, Daphne softly said, "Yes.
This will do."
"It's even better than last time," smiled
Hermione, as she stepped inside.
They'd no sooner sat down and got
themselves comfortable when the girls
restarted their discussion on Word for
Windows.
"It's called a word processor, Daph-love,"
said Hermione. "The muggles use them all
the time in offices across the world. Next
break, I'm going to see if our printers can
handle printing on parchment. If they can,
I'm going to see if I can find a set of fonts
that closely resemble what letters look like
when we write by hand using a quill on
parchment.
"It won't fool anyone into believing we
actually wrote them by hand; because, it'll
look far too good. However I'm hoping
that, if we can make it look as 'wizardly'
and handwritten as possible, the
professors will accept it."
"Fonts?" asked Harry, before he realised
what she meant. "Oh; that's the shape
and style of the lettering, right?"
"Right," smiled Hermione.
Hermione was apparently all set to launch
into her next wildly educational lecture
when the door was yanked open. Tracey
stood in the doorway with an annoyed
scowl on her face.
Daphne took one look at her expression
and said, "Ah!"
"Roger's being a dick!" Tracey suddenly
blurted out, before she practically
collapsed onto the couch next to Daphne,
and cuddled in to the other girl.
"Roger? Roger Davies?" asked Hermione.
"Are you two related?"
"Roger is Tracey's older brother," replied
Daphne. "They don't get along all that
well."
Turning to Tracey, she asked, "And what
has 'Captain Snooty' done or said to upset
you, this time?"
"Captain Snooty?" Harry suddenly asked,
before he almost collapsed in laughter.
"Oh! Oh; that's rich!"
"Be quiet, Harry," frowned Daphne, before
she turned back to Tracey. "What's he
done?"
"Even though Mum and Dad... somewhat...
approve of Blaise, Roger picked a fight
with him," she replied, almost in tears.
"Then... then... he had the gall to tell me I
can't see him anymore."
"So?" asked Harry. "His opinion doesn't
matter. Only those of your parents do..."
"That's not the point, Harry," said Daphne.
"Roger will one day be head of the family.
So, his opinion does matter."
"And, with Tommy Riddle now done and
dusted, and his lickspittles all either killed
or in Azkaban, it's highly unlikely Tracey's
father is going to be dropping off the
proverbial perch any time soon," he
countered. "Therefore, it's highly unlikely
Roger is going to become her Head of
House for any reason any time soon.
"I'd say ignore what's crawled up Roger's
arse about it, and keep living your life the
way you want to live it."
"That's... actually... good advice," sniffled
Tracey. "The trouble is, now I just have to
convince Blaise of that."
"Oh?" asked Daphne, a little concerned.
"Roger's attitude's given Blaise cold feet,"
she replied. "He's hardly talking to me
now."
"Want me to take him out the back of the
castle and beat the snot out of him?"
asked Harry. "Or, beat the sense into him?
Whichever."
That actually made Tracey laugh a little.
"No," she said. "I'll... talk to him. I'll make
him see that Roger's opinion doesn't
matter."
"Good girl," said Hermione.
Tracey had finally noticed the
compartment and looked about. "This is
even nicer than the last time," she said.
"We thought of some improvements on
the basic design," said Daphne.
Tracey gave one of her little snorts and
muttered, "Basic design, she says."
Chapter 394
The group were soon joined by their other
friends. Draco came in next, took one look
around, shook his head and muttered
something about, "Show offs!" before he
collapsed into one of the few armchairs
the girls had configured to replace the
bench seating.
Next was Luna. She simply walked in, said
hello to everyone, and took a seat at the
table, staring out at the platform.
Next came Neville, leading both Hannah
and Susan. All three took a look around
and lightly chuckled before finding their
own seats.
"This is even better than last time, Harry,"
said Neville.
"I made it a bit bigger," replied Harry.
"Then left the ladies to decorate it."
"As you should," said Susan. "Ladies have
better taste."
"Oh, you do not want to go there..."
smirked Draco.
"Why?" taunted Susan. "Think you could
do better?"
"No," the boy replied. "I just happen to
know there are plenty of male
professional decorators, out there, who
could do a fantastic job. We had one
redecorate Malfoy Manor a few years ago.
I think Mother is considering calling him
back to redecorate again."
While the two had been trading mild
taunts, they were joined by Blaise. He
took a seat down near Luna, for a moment,
before he came back and quietly asked
Tracey to step outside for a moment.
"Silencing wards, Blaise," she huffed back,
before dragging him down to partway
between the bondmates and the window.
A silencing ward went up and the two
dropped into a silent but serious
conversation.
Daphne kept a close eye on them.
Harry had just turned away from watching
the conversation start when Horace
Urquhart stood in the doorway. He took
one quick look around in surprise before
he swivelled his eyes to look worriedly at
Harry. "Potter," he quietly said.
"Horace!" said Harry, with a big grin.
"Come in and take a load off your feet."
With a visible wave of relief, Urquhart
gave a slight nod and entered the
compartment. He took one of the other
armchairs and sat next to Draco. "Black,"
he quietly said.
"Urquhart," nodded Draco back. "I'm glad
to see you managed to get through our
little war relatively unscathed.
"As am I," the boy breathed back.
"I was sorry to hear you lost your father,"
said Draco.
Daphne stiffed a little and almost
surreptitiously reach her hand to grasp
the handle of her wand.
Urquhart gave a bit of a despondent sigh,
before he firmed up and replied, "I shall
miss the man I knew as my father.
However, I shall not do so for the death
eater he became."
Urquhart almost spat the last four words,
so deep was his loathing.
A few moments later, Daphne relaxed
again. "Many have lost parents because of
the self-interest of that lying psychopath,
Riddle. He had much to answer for. It's a
pity his death was so quick. But, it had to
be done."
"It had to be done," muttered Urquhart,
echoing her words in agreement.
For the rest of the trip, the group were
visited by quite a few others. However,
this time there were a lot more who came
to visit; some because they'd heard from
friends who had seen their compartment
on the trip at the end of the previous
school year, and wanted to see it for
themselves.
Others even asked to stay. Every one of
them was told they could so as long as, if
they believed in 'blood supremacy', they
left that attitude outside.
By the time they reached Hogsmeade,
their compartment was, again, full. They
even had a couple of younger years sitting
or lying on the floor and either playing
games or lightly dozing.
"I think we're going to have to make the
compartment even bigger for the trip
home at Christmas," said Hermione.
"No," disagreed Daphne. "I think it would
be better if we just configured the
compartment next door to be the same."
"And then put a door between the two?"
asked Hermione. But, before Daphne
could respond, she said, "That actually
makes much more sense. That way we can
make 'our' compartment the private one.
And send everyone else we don't want to
join us into that .
When they arrived at Hogsmeade, the
three disembarked and, as usual, Harry
called out a greeting to Hagrid, before he
headed to the carriages.
"'Arry!" called Hagrid, carrying his lantern
and gesturing for Harry to come over as
the new first years began to gather around
him. Most of them barely came up to
where his belt would be, if he wasn't
wearing that big moleskin coat. "Firs'
years!" he bellowed almost
absentmindedly, as he looked at Harry.
"Firs' Years; to me!"
Harry and his two wives detoured from
heading to the coaches and approached
Hagrid.
"Yeah, Hagrid?" asked Harry. "What's up?"
"Firs' Years!" Hagrid again bellowed before
turning to Harry. "'Arry; I need ya to do
meh a favour, if yeh would'n' mind?"
"Leave yeh trunks an' famil-yars! They'll be
taken to thuh cas'le for yeh!" he bellowed.
"What do you need, Hagrid?" asked Harry.
"There's sum in-jed un-eh-corns
Mah-gorian wants meh t' see to," he
explained. "If'n yeh would'n' mind, now;
could yeh see yerself to lead'n these 'ere
lit'le ones across thuh lake?"
Harry gave a little snort and turned to his
wives to ask their opinion.
"Don't look at me," snorted Daphne. "One
trip on those little death traps was enough
for me."
"I'll go with Daphne on the carriages," said
Hermione. "You take the firsties and we'll
see you at the castle."
With a grin, Harry turned back to Hagrid
and said, "Hand over the lamp, big guy. I'll
take 'em."
"Aww... yer a real champ, 'Arry," said
Hagrid, handing the pole with his
suspended lamp to Harry with a wide grin
on his face.
Accepting the lamp, and still in a booming
voice, Hagrid said, "To get thuh boats goin',
jest tap yer wand t' thuh gunwhaal and
command, 'Forward'. Ev'rythin' jest
'appens, afta tha'."
Harry gave a light laugh and said,
"Understood. Go look after the unicorns."
Hagrid gave him a firm pat on the back in
farewell, which nearly drove Harry to his
knees, and hopped on the back of one of
the carriages as it was about to depart.
Chapter 395
Turning to the gaggle of firsties, he
thought, 'I wonder what the collective
noun for a collection of first years is,
anyway?'
"First years!" he called. "First years, to me!
Leave your trunks and your familiars.
They'll be taken to the castle for you!"
Once the platform began to clear of
students, and he was reasonably sure he
had all the first years milling around in
front of him, he called, "Right, then!
Follow me, single file. The path is quite
narrow, so don't try to pass the person
ahead of you!"
Just as Hagrid did with him and his fellow
First Years, Harry paused at the low open
cliff where everyone could see the castle,
all lit up from within and without. His own
experience in later years confirmed for
him that it was only for this initial view for
the firsties that the castle was so lit.
Normally there was only about a third of
the lights as there was on this night.
After giving all the little munchkins a good
look he said, "Right, then! Onwards to the
boats!"
Arriving down on the pebbly beach with
it's wharf-like dock, he said, "No more
than four to a boat! No, lad; not the first
one. That one's mine." Gesturing to the
others he said, "There's plenty of room for
everybody."
As the boats filled up, Harry collected all
the poled lanterns that were already lit
and set off to one side and handed one to
a child in each boat.
Once he was sure all the kids were
comfortably seated, he gave a firm nod
and went to his own. However, before
climbing into it, he transfigured the hard
wooden seat within to a nice padded
divan chair.
Once onboard, he gave a quick look back
at all the boats to make sure no one had
decided to hop back out again, drew his
wand, and tapped it on the edge of the
gunwhale with a magical command of,
"Forward!"
With his boat leading the way, all fourteen
boats pulled away from the dock and fell
in behind like little ducklings behind their
mother duck.
The first thing Harry noticed was that he
couldn't watch the kids, facing the wrong
way. He conjured two large 'wing' mirrors
to either side, so he could see back behind.
He knew the kids wouldn't get into trouble,
as the giant squid would watch for anyone
falling in. But, he liked to watch them,
anyway.
As the boats approached the vine-draped
entrance to the grotto he could see that
someone - probably Hagrid - had been
along and trimmed them right back. He
didn't have to call to the kids to duck their
heads, this time.
As soon as his boat brushed up against the
stone pier that was their disembarkation
point, Harry quickly hopped out and stood
at the head of the pier with his lamp.
"Nice and easy, does it!" he called back.
"No need to race to get out of your boats,
now. They'll wait for you. Help each other
out."
He carefully watched to make sure no
child slipped and fell back into the water.
Once all the kids were out of the boats, he
said, "Right, then. Follow me. It's a bit of
hike up all these steps, so don't try and
race it!"
As he lead the children up the winding
stairs one of the closest to him, a young
girl, almost tremulously asked, "Excuse
me... but... are you Harry Potter?"
Not to frighten the child, he said, "Yes,
little miss; I am."
That had a few gasp in surprise and look at
him with no little amount of awe.
Keeping his pace steady but reduced so as
not to tire the kids out before they even
reached the ground floor, he lead them
ever upwards.
"D-did you really... err... k-kill V-Vol..." one
tried to ask.
"Tom Riddle," said Harry, interrupting him.
"And, yes; I did." He thought about that
for a moment before he asked back, "That
doesn't frighten you, does it?"
"Ummm...n-no?" the little kid replied.
"Good," said Harry, firmly. "Because, it
shouldn't. He was more a terrible beast
than a man. And he had to be put down."
When they arrived at the doors to the
castle a few minutes later, Harry firmly
knocked on the door.
When Professor Flitwick opened it a
moment later, Harry stood there and
firmly mimicking Hagrid said, "Th' Firs'
Yeahs, Perfess'r Flitwick!"
Flitwick took one look at Harry and burst
out laughing. "Well, we'd better let them
in, Mister Potter." And stood back,
opening the door wider.
Harry also stood back and ushered all the
kids in ahead of him.
Once the last one passed through, he
followed them inside.
With Professor Flitwick leading them to
the anteroom, Harry gave the man a
jaunty salute, closed the castle door, and
walked into the Great Hall. His wives, as
expected, held a space between them for
him to join them.
Taking a seat between his wives, Harry
greeted the others. "Miss the carriages,
Harry?" asked Anthony Goldstein.
"Hagrid asked me to take the new firsties
across the lake in the boats," replied Harry.
"He had to go and deal with something
about injured unicorns in the forest."
Harry and the girls were explaining their
second honeymoon on the Tahitian island
with those sitting nearby when Professor
Flitwick escorted the new firsties in.
Watching them come, some saw him
sitting at the Ravenclaw table, smiled and
waved. He smiled back.
As soon as Professor Flitwick arranged the
newbies before the dais, he brought the
stool with the Sorting Hat perched on it to
the edge of the platform, and conjured
himself a small set of stairs to lift himself
about two feet into the air alongside the
stool.
He waited only a moment for the Hat to
begin to sing. As usual it sang of the
school, the Houses and itself. Nothing
unusual at all hidden within it's message,
this year. And, for that, Harry was very
glad.
Once it finished and bowed to each of the
four tables it returned to it's normal shape
as the applause died down.
Professor Flitwick brought forth a roll of
parchment and mounted the stairs.
"As I call your name, you are to come
forward and sit upon this stool," he began.
"Once you are seated, I'll place the Sorting
Hat upon your head. Once it has then
called out the name of your House, I'll lift
the Hat back off your head. You'll then
make your way to that table, and take a
seat. At which time I'll call the next
student forth. And we'll repeat until all
students are sorted.
"Euan Abercrombie!" he called.
A little tow-headed kid scurried forward
and sat on the stool as the Professor lifted
the Hat.
He went to Gryffindor.
Chapter 396
When the last student was called,
Hufflepuff Rose Zeller, to the approbation
of her new housemates, Professor Flitwick
stepped down from his steps rolling up his
roll of parchment, banished the steps, and
carried the Hat and stool off to the side.
Harry had been a bit worried that
Ravenclaw House would end up with
more than it's normal 'fair share' of
students from this sorting. However, his
fears were for naught. As usual, the
students broke into Houses more-or-less
evenly. This year Ravenclaw had twelve,
Hufflepuff had eleven, Gryffindor had
eleven, and Slytherin had ten. Harry
wondered if one of the students who was
sorted into Ravenclaw was supposed to
have ended up in Slytherin, and begged
the Hat to sort them into Ravenclaw.
After all, in Harry's year the sorting
resulted in Gryffindor ten, Slytherin nine,
Ravenclaw nine and Hufflepuff nine.
However, he knew he was supposed to
end up in Slytherin, and it was likely
Hermione was supposed to end up in
Ravenclaw; which would have made the
numbers Slytherin ten, Ravenclaw ten,
Hufflepuff nine and Gryffindor eight.
Headmistress MacGonagall then stood
and addressed the students, welcoming
them for their first or another year, before
moving to announcements.
"Students are reminded that the
Forbidden Forest is just that - forbidden.
Anyone caught within the boundaries of
the forest without a Professor will
automatically see their house lose fifty
points, for a first offence. Each time after
that will be a further one hundred points.
"Students are also reminded that spells
are not to be cast in the castle's corridors.
And, further, they will find that they
cannot cast due to rune based magics at
work, anyway. However, those who find a
way to cast magics, especially offensive
magics of any form, will quickly find
themselves facing harsh disciplinary action.
That may include being handed over to
aurors of the DMLE for criminal
prosecution.
"And, finally, it is my great pleasure to
inform one and all that there is no new
Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts;
as Professor Black has decided to remain
for another year."
That received a long round of applause
from the students, including the Slytherins.
Sirius might have been a Gryffindor when
he attended Hogwarts as a student, but he
was still a pureblood Black -
even The Black - so they were apparently
ready to forgive him that one 'indiscretion'.
And the Gryffindors loved him because he
was... well... a Gryffindor. But none
applauded more or more loudly than the
three bond-mates.
Besides, it was readily accepted by all the
students he was a very, very good teacher;
and well-versed in his subject. And the
bond-mates were happy that it proved the
curse on the position had now been
broken. They didn't know how but
suspected it had to do with the death of
whom they suspected was the caster,
Riddle
Harry's mind wandered back to the
sorting of his own year, and relatively even
numbers of students, and thought how
he'd have sorted them. He was snapped
out of his daydream by a nudge from
Hermione. The food had appeared.
Though they now saw no reason to check
for listening or monitoring charms when
they entered their suite, the three still did
them.
Once they were finished, and finding none
but the ones Dumbledore had put up,
Hermione said, "Actually, we should
remove those, too."
Daphne looked back in surprise and said,
"She's right. Once Dumbledore died there
was no reason to leave them in place."
Both girls then went through the suite
removing all of them.
"There; done," declared Hermione, once
they were finished. "Actually, I'm rather
glad we did that. They were always a bit of
a risk to just leave them there."
"Agreed," said Daphne.
While the girls had been doing that, Harry
had been moving about the suite
renewing some of the charms they'd put
in themselves. He renewed the charms on
the owl window, the ward blocking insects
and other pests (including
Rita-bloody-Skeeter), his charm to ensure
Hedwig's area was kept clean of droppings
and other waste, and the auto-fill charms
on her personal feeder and water dish.
Since Harry had permanently installed a
roost for her in their suite, and had
charmed it for her, Hedwig rarely returned
to the castle owlery.
Once he was done, and the girls had
finished stripping the old listening charms
away, Harry pulled out a sheet of
parchment and his auto-inking quill and
began to write.
First, he went through all the students in
their year, and where he remembered
them being sorted to. Then he began to
move the names about; having a pretty
fair idea as to the personalities of each.
When he was finished, he had a pretty
evenly distributed list.
Gryffindor: Susan Bones (ex-Hufflepuff),
Fay Dunbar, Megan Jones (ex Ravenclaw),
Sally-Anne Perks, Wilma Summerby (ex
Hufflepuff), Seamus Finnegan, Neville
Longbottom, Draco Malfoy (ex Slytherin),
Zach Smith (ex Hufflepuff) and Dean
Thomas.
Ten (10) members.
Slytherin: Millicent Bulstrode, Tracey
Davies, Daphne Greengrass, Pansy
Parkinson, Michael Corner (ex Ravenclaw),
Theo Nott, Harry Potter (ex Gryffindor),
Ron Weasley (ex Gryffindor) and Blaise
Zabini.
Nine (9) members.
Ravenclaw: Mandy Brocklehurst,
Hermione Granger (ex Gryffindor), Su Li,
Morag McDougal, Padma Patil, Terry Boot,
Stephen Cornfoot, Kevin Entwhistle and
Anthony Goldstein.
Nine (9) members.
Hufflepuff: Hannah Abbott, Lavender
Brown (ex Gryffindor), Parvati Patil (ex
Gryffindor), Sheila Whitlock, Vincent
Crabbe (ex Slytherin), Justin
Finch-Fletchley, Greg Goyle (ex Slytherin),
Wayne Hopkins and Ernie MacMillan.
Nine (9) members.
After Harry laughed at his own list,
Daphne looked at him quizzically while
Hermione flat out asked, "And just what
has you so amused?"
"I decided to go through the list of
students for our own sorting, to see if I'd
have done anything differently," he replied,
"Now that we know everyone better, that
is."
"Mind sharing?" she asked, coming over.
Harry simply handed her the list. And,
while she was reading and her grin got
wider and wider, Daphne joined her.
When she'd finished she, too, laughed.
Daphne looked at it and said, "So you
think that, even though you begged the
Hat to sort you into Gryffindor, if you had
ended up in Slytherin you'd have still had
Weasley as a dorm mate?"
"Yep!" he replied.
"What made you create the list, anyway?"
asked Hermione.
Chapter 397
Harry thought about it for a few moments
before he said, "We know Fumbledork
was both a Master Legilimens and Master
Occlumens. We also know he wasn't
adverse to flinging out the odd
Compulsion charm or two, to get what he
wanted. And, third, we know the Sorting
Hat sits on that shelf in his office, day in
and day out, for practically every day of
the year except the evening of the sorting.
"How much do you want to bet the old
bastard couldn't help himself, and figured
out a way to compulse the Hat into sorting
the students the way he wanted them
sorted?"
Both wives let out little gasps.
"I mean... think about it," he said. "Take a
look at our year-mates. For a start,
there's no way in Hades Crabbe or Goyle
could be considered Slytherins. They're
both nought but followers of whoever
takes up the unofficial but well-known
mantle of the Prince of Slytherin. As soon
as Draco turned from that path, both
immediately switched their allegiances to
Nott.
"Now that Nott's gone, they're
following Parkinson about the place.
That's loyalty, not cunning or guile."
Shaking his head he said, "Those two are
the epitome of Hufflepuff, through and
through. And we already know Draco is
more a Gryffindor that a Slytherin.
"Another; we all know Sue Bones went
into Hufflepuff, and that her family are
usually from that House. However, she's
chock full of bravery, and would have fit
perfectly in the House of the Lions. Plus,
she really wanted to be with her friend,
Hannah. So, I think that's how she ended
up a 'Puff."
"I get it," said Hermione. "And you think
Dumbledore used his magic to subtly steer
the sorting the way he wanted it."
"Exactly," he replied. "He didn't want the
niece of the Head of the DMLE in the
same House as me."
"Is there anything we can do about it?"
asked Daphne.
"About the only thing we can do is tell
Headmistress MacGonagall," said
Hermione. "Hopefully, she'll then have the
Sorting Hat inspected for such
compulsions and the like."
"I think she'd have to call in the
Unspeakables to check it out," said
Daphne. "They're about the only ones
with the skills that would rival
Dumbledore's at his height. And it would
take a powerful wizard or witch to cancel
such charms."
"So, we do that, then?" asked Harry.
Daphne frowned for a bit and nibbled at
her bottom lip in thought. Suddenly she
said, "Better to tell her our... your...
suspicion and be wrong; than not tell her
and be right."
"She's right," said Hermione. "Game
theory - the Prisoner's Dilemma - proves
the point."
"Whatever that is..." muttered Daphne.
Harry immediately said, "Then, let's go see
her now?"
Headmistress MacGonagall was working in
her office, going over the school finances,
when the alert informed her three
students sought her audience. She
mentally ordered the gargoyle to step
aside and, a few seconds later, there was
knock at her door.
"Enter!" she called.
Harry opened the door and allowed his
wives to precede him into the office and,
as they came, the Headmistress
reconfigured the chairs before her desk
into a three-seater high seat lounge.
The Potters sat on the lounge in their
usual order and she asked, "What can I do
for you three."
She'd noticed all three had almost
surreptitiously glanced at the Sorting Hat
as they sat down.
"Harry ran through a little exercise related
to the sorting of the students in our year,"
said Hermione. "And, from that, we
reached a quite worrying conclusion."
"Oh?" asked MacGonagall. "And, what
would that be?"
"I think there was a lot of missorting going
on," Harry suddenly blurted. "I mean, if
you look at the students from that sorting
now, you can easily see how they would
have been better sorted in other
Houses..."
Daphne interrupted and said, "We think
Headmaster Dumbledore has done
something to the Sorting Hat that makes
the Hat sort the students where
Dumbledore wanted some of them."
"That's a serious allegation," frowned the
Headmistress. "But, I don't believe it's
possible for the Hat to be manipulated,
that way."
"I... that is, we... think he did, Ma'am,"
said Hermione. "I was giving it more
thought as we walked here, and I think he
used a potion, like he used on Harry's
invisibility cloak, to allow him to use
Legilimency and or Compulsion charms on
the Hat."
McGonagall's frowned deepened and she
seemed to think harder about that. Then
she suddenly turned to stare at the Hat.
"Sorting Hat? Is this possible?"
The Sorting Hat seemed to wiggle a little
before the rip in it's brim opened and the
Hat said, "I won't say it's impossible.
When I was created, the Founders were
only looking to make sure charms of the
day would not work upon me. However, I
do not recall them considering potions as
a viable mode of manipulation of what is
considered no more than a magical
artefact.
"Furthermore, I can assure you our late
unlamented Headmaster often attempted
Legilimency on me while I was sorting
students. I say 'attempted' because I
always believed I was made with that art
unable to penetrate what you would
consider my Occlumency shields. However,
the use of potions may have been used on
me to break through those shields."
"Often attempted?" asked Daphne. "He
should only have tried it once or twice if it
didn't work. That he tried it more often
than that means he must have been
successful."
"Is there any way we can check?" asked
the Headmistress.
Hermione immediately replied, "The
Unspeakables. They're the only ones who
can do it, we think."
"That's a very good idea," said McGonagall.
She turned back to the Hat and asked, "Do
you have a problem with the
Unspeakables checking you out?"
"Not at all," replied the Hat. "There have
been times in the past when I have been
temporarily loaned to them for
examination. I have suffered no undue
effects from such; so I cannot anticipate it
happening this time around."
"Well, I have no idea if what you believe is
true, Mister Potter," said McGonagall.
"However, it's worth checking out, if only
for my own peace of mind."
"Thank you, Professor," said Harry, rising
to leave.
As he helped his wives to their feet and
headed for the door he had a sudden
thought. Turning back, he asked,
"Professor, what do you intend to do if I'm
right?"
The Headmistress appeared to think on
that for a moment before she sighed and
said, "I'll have to give it quite some
thought, Mister Potter. But, if this gets
out..."
"Understood, Professor," he replied. "And,
thank you again."
Chapter 398
The three bond mates were sitting for
breakfast a couple of weeks later when a
barn owl flew down and offered it's leg to
Hermione.
Not recognising the owl, she immediately
cast detection charms on it and it's
package before relieving the bird of it's
load. It was a large letter.
Carefully opening it, Hermione allowed
the contents to slide out of the envelope
onto the table, cast another series of
detection charms upon it, and then picked
it up to read through it.
In only a few moments her eyes widened
in shock before her face broke out in a
wide grin. She was so excited by what she
was reading she was almost bouncing on
the bench seat. "They're going to print it!"
she softly gasped to her spouses.
Handing the letter to Harry, he quickly
read through it, grinned, and handed it off
to Daphne.
Dearest Mrs Granger-Potter,
We here at Whizz Hard Books will be
honoured to publish your manuscript 'The
Nature of Souls and Soul Bonds' and see
to it's distribution within the Wizarding
world to retail outlets.
As you have informed us of the identity of
your literary agent, Mister Stewart
Ackerman, we shall be in contact with him
direct to organise the contract between
ourselves and you to publish your works.
We look forward to a profitable
partnership between yourself and us, and
wish you a lovely day.
Rupert Hornswoggle, Publisher
Diagon Alley, England Branch
Whizz Hard Books
"Merlin!" said Daphne. "They're actually
going to print it."
"Is there something you two want to tell
me?" asked Harry, a little bemused.
"Yeah... ummm... we finished the book,"
said Hermione.
Harry gave a little snort and said, "No
kidding."
"We needed to get it out of the way,
Harry," said Daphne by way of both
apology and explanation.
"Oh?" he asked. "Why?... Wait... You
wanted it out of the way so you could
start on a second book, didn't you?" His
question wasn't so much accusatory, but
was more along the lines of passive
acceptance.
"Yes," she immediately replied.
"And, let me guess," he sighed, "It's going
to be on the nature of magical souls and
muggleborns, isn't it?"
"Yes," she simply replied again.
He took a moment to allow that to
percolate before he asked, "You've already
started it, haven't you?"
Both girls grinned and replied, "Yes."
"Croaker's going to kill us!" he groaned.
"And, if not him, then the Minister."
Three days later they were called up to
the Headmistress's office.
As they entered, they noticed that the
Sorting Hat was sitting on the edge of her
desk, rather than it's more normal shelf,
and it looked a great deal cleaner than it
ever had before.
"Take a seat," she invited them.
Once the three were sitting, she gestured
to the Hat and said, "The Sorting Hat
would like a word."
The three turned their attention to the
Hat but, before it could speak, Hermione
said, "You're looking quite spiffy, Hat. A
good cleaning appears to have done you
well."
"Thank you, Missus Granger-Potter,"
replied the Hat with it's almost formal
bow. "However, I asked the Headmistress
to grant me the opportunity to speak with
you."
"And, what can we do for you?" asked
Hermione.
"I wanted to thank you three, personally,
for seeing a possible problem regarding
me, and asking the Headmistress to
investigate it," it replied. "Because of your
forethought, the Unspeakables were able
to discover I'd been sprayed, over time,
with a potion which allowed the late,
unlamented Headmaster to wield certain
control over me.
"The Headmaster had been telling me he
was using a preservation and cleaning
potion on me when, in fact, he'd been
using a modified form of a compulsion
potion he was able to use his skills as a
Master of Alchemy to develop. That
potion also allowed him to bypass my
Occlumency variant and use compulsion
and memory charms to have me sort a
few of the students the way he believed
they should be sorted.
"There were not that many, but the ones I
believe he was able to sway were ones
that could have been sorted elsewhere.
Those I was very definite about, however,
he wasn't able to influence; but, as you
would know, there were a great many
students that could have been sorted into
more than one House."
"Are you going to demand a resort for
those students?" asked Daphne.
"No," replied the Headmistress. "The Hat
believes, and I would have to agree, that
having this all become public... as it would
if we were to order a major resort of the
student population... would shake magical
Britain to it's very core.
"The Sorting Hat is one of those relics that
everyone believes is impeccable in it's
behaviour and choices. If we were to allow
it to be made public that the Sorting Hat
was... and, therefore, could be again...
tampered with, then no one would trust
it's decision ever again.
"Therefore, we have no choice but to
leave the current student body where
they are. But, from this point on, the
Sorting Hat will be doing it's rightful duty
by sorting each new batch of First Years as
they should be sorted."
While she'd been talking, Hermione had
been thinking.
"What about if it's offered to the student
populace as an opportunity," she
explained. "Don't tell the student body
what has happened. Just tell them that
you, as a new Headmistress, have wisely
decided to implement the new policy of
allowing students to be resorted. But, only
offer it at a specific time of the school year,
and only for specific years."
"I get it," said Harry. "For instance, alert
the students in advance that, immediately
after the Sorting on the First of September,
anyone who would be starting their third
or fifth year that year, are welcome to ask
the Hat to be resorted."
"However," cut in Hermione. "The Hat
could also simply resort the student back
into their existing House, if the Hat still
feels that is the best place for them.
"I've always believed that should be an
option, anyway. After all, Hermione
Granger the new firstie, is a far different
person to Hermione Granger the sixth
year; my being married, aside."
"Hmmm..." muttered the Hat. "That's
actually a clever idea. Headmistress; your
thoughts?"
McGonagall sat thinking about it for a
while before she said, "It is, indeed,
workable. However, it won't necessarily
catch those who were missorted."
"That doesn't matter," said Daphne,
speaking up. "If the student ends up being
happy in their House, even if it was a
Dumbledore-influenced missort, why not
let them stay? What harm could it do?
And, if they're unhappy, then they'll ask
for the resort, anyway."
"I like it," said the Hat after a moment. "I
won't be able to rectify all the missorts,
but I'll be able to catch most of them, I'm
sure. And, as Missus Greengrass-Potter
said, if they're happy in their House
there's really no reason to resort them."
"First of September, eh?" mused
McGonagall. "That gives me plenty of time
to flesh the plan out ahead of time."
A few moments later she reached a
decision. "Alright; we'll do that. Twenty
points to Ravenclaw for a well-reasoned
argument and concept. I trust you three
will remain silent on what you've learned
in here, today?"
"Of course, Professor," replied Harry for
the three of them.
"Good," she firmly said. "Thank you, again,
for coming."
Chapter 399
For the three Potters, they quickly
resumed their studies in now their sixth
year. The two wives were also now
working hard on the Wizengamot, and
Harry was happy for their company during
those days when the three had to attend.
It was in late November when the human
excrement struck with force the rotary
oscillator. The book was released.
The publisher had originally asked,
through their solicitor, for the right to
release certain information contained
within the book, as a sort of 'teaser'. But
the three Potters were very adamant it
not be.
That meant, when the book hit the
shelves, it did it with all the usual fanfare
in one hit. The publisher had also asked
for Harry, at least, to be present for the
book launch, held at Flourish and Blotts.
But, again, the Potters refused.
While the publisher was trying for as
much fanfare as possible, the Potters were
aiming for as little as possible. The
publisher believed the book would sell
better if there was much publicity
surrounding it, especially as Harry's name
would be listed as one of the authors,
while the Potters believed it was best not
to make a big deal about it. They believed
that too much publicity, too soon, might
tempt the Minister to see to the book
being pulled from the shelves. And that it
would sell more books without
interference from the Ministry on it's own
merits.
Of course, the Potters received the
so-called very first print off the binding
'machine'. Believing the book would end
up being no more than about a half inch
thick, including the hardcovers, they were
almost shocked when they received the
first copy and it turned out to be over an
inch thick.
The reason why was quickly discovered
when they turned to the inner pages. The
font was actually quite large, and
contained quite a few full page
illustrations and photographs; as well as
illustrations and photographs that were
only part pages.
"You included pictures!" he exclaimed to
his wives.
"Well, yes," said Hermione. "Not everyone
who's a witch or wizard in magical Britain
has been to Hogwarts, Harry;
just almost everyone."
"We paid that little fanboy of yours, Colin
Creevey, to take some photographs for
us," explained Daphne. "And Hermione
mentioned Dean Thomas was a talented
drawing artist, so we paid him to draw
some illustrations."
With a snort, Harry said, "I thought the
drawings looked familiar. Dean's work,
yeah? They're pretty good."
Two days after the book was released it
was targeted with a scathing review in
the Daily Prophet. Harry read it and
laughed.
"You're not upset about it?" asked
Daphne.
"Not at all," he replied with a grin. "It'll
actually sell more books, as people will
now go and buy it just to see why the
critic was so scathing of it. We'll give it a
few days and release a statement. That'll
then have even more people buying it. By
the time the Minister tries to act to 'ban' it,
it'll be too late."
However, and a little surprisingly, the critic
was responded to by people who had
actually gone and bought the book and
had the opposite opinion. If anything,
many had written that they agreed with
the Potters about the nature of souls, and
thanked them quite profusely for clearing
up the matter of the nature of soul bonds.
The critic ended up having to write a
retraction for his comments and excused
his reactions by stating he'd only
'skimmed' through the book at first glance.
However, after a solid and more in depth
reading, found he agreed.
That had Harry practically falling off his
seat at the Ravenclaw table, cackling
madly. His wives just smirked at his antics.
When Draco approached he smirked and
asked, "Not satisfied with your current
notoriety, cousin Harry? You needed to go
and publish, too?"
"Blame Hermione and Madam Pomfrey,
Draco," he replied. "Hermione had the
idea to write a book about the soul bonds,
and Madam Pomfrey encouraged her."
"Which reminds me," said Hermione. She
pulled a new copy of the book out of her
bag, together with a quill and ink. Opening
the book to the bookplate page she wrote
in it before she signed it with a flourish.
Then slid it over in front of Harry.
Looking down, Harry read it and smirked
before accepting the quill.
To our dearest friend, Madam Poppy
Pomfrey, who encouraged us to write this
book.
We ask you hold onto it and make it
available to those who come after us, who
also find themselves involved in a soul
bond at an early age.
We hope it gives them peace.
Hermione J. Granger-Potter
Harry signed it below Hermione's
signature and passed it on to Daphne;
who, after reading the message, smiled
and added her own signature before
passing it back.
With it back in her hands, Hermione blew
over the page to dry the ink before closing
it with a snap.
Meanwhile, Draco had left again, shaking
his head.
Hermione then almost casually strolled up
to the head table and handed Madam
Pomfrey the book, flipping the cover open
to the dedication page as she did so.
From where they sat, Harry and Daphne
watched Poppy look at the book with joy,
before she closed it and held it to her
chest with a look of great pleasure on her
face.
After a few words between her and
Hermione, Hermione turned back and
headed back to their table with a wide
smile on her face; clearly pleased with
herself. Poppy showed the book and the
dedication to the Professors either side of
her.
"Nice!" commented Harry once she
approached.
Sitting down, she said, "We probably
would never have published it if it wasn't
for her. I think it was the least we could
do."
"With the next book, though," he asked,
"Do me a favour?"
"What's that?" she asked.
"Make sure it clearly states, often, that
what's written within is a matter of
opinion," he urged. "Let them make their
own assumptions, based on that."
"Alright, Harry; we can do that," said
Daphne.
While sixth year was considered by most
students as the year to relax between
OWLs and NEWTs, Harry couldn't
understand why. The assignments were
still piled on them, even more so than for
OWLs. But the three were able to slog
through them in plenty of time before
they were due.
While sitting down working on
assignments together in almost silence,
Harry had a sudden thought.
"I just thought of something," he grinned.
"I wonder if Ron is enjoying his time at
Azkaban, or would much prefer to be
working on fifth year assignments."
Daphne gave a little snort while Hermione
asked, "Why on Earth would you be
wondering that?"
Shaking his head he replied, "No
idea. One meal a day, if he's lucky. No
second helpings, let alone thirds. No
desserts. No chess. No Quidditch; even
magazines... Heh!"
"He's gone," said Daphne. "Dumbledore's
gone, Riddle's gone, Prewitt is as much
as gone, and I've seen no sign nor hair of
that little Weasley bitch. Forget about
them.
"Yes, Ma'am!" he smirked. "Do you think
you can come up with some way to help
me take my mind off them?"
"Not tonight, tiger," she firmly replied.
"Your timing's off."
"Oh," he softly said and sulked as both
wives grinned back.
It was only six months later when the
second book, the one on the truth about
muggleborns 'Muggleborn or Squib-born?',
was printed and released. It was much
thinner than the first but the information
within was just as, if not more, explosive.
Of course, the Prophet's critic immediately
referred to Harry's little speech on the
awarding of his second Order of Merlin,
First Class. And asked, via his critique, just
how far advanced the Unspeakables were
in their own research.
The release of the book almost caused the
calling of an emergency session of the
Wizengamot but saner heads managed to
prevail.
Of course, that didn't stop the questions
flying thick and fast about how he - and
his wives - had reached such conclusions.
But, by the time the actual Wizengamot
meeting was held, heads had cooled. It
also helped that the goblins, in one of
their rare media interviews, confirmed
that they specifically kept an eye open for
new muggleborns entering their bank;
and, without specifically encouraging
them to do so, tried to steer them towards
taking inheritance tests. And why.
Someone was prepared for the meeting
and attempted to pass legislation banning
muggleborns from inheriting. Everyone
waited for Harry or one of his wives to
speak against. However, Hermione finally
stood in support. And her closing remarks
had them utterly flummoxed.
"And, finally, I support this legislation
because it means it now becomes the
responsibility of the Ministry to prove a
muggleborn is, in fact, a muggleborn," she
firmly stated. "It means the Ministry will
now have the task of proving someone
is not a squib-born; and is actually a
muggleborn. No longer will the body of
proof lie with the squib-born 'slash'
muggleborn.
"This means all new magicals entering the
magical world for the first time must be
accorded the same rights as a pureblood,
until such time as the Ministry deems
them otherwise.
"As such, I adjure members to support this
Bill with all their heart. Thank you."
Shockingly, the Bill actually passed. And it
became the first piece of legislation that
was ultimately aimed towards getting rid
of the blood bigotry that ran rampant
through magical Britain. And it wasn't the
last.
As well as working on assignments and
studying in school, the three of course
also had their other Wizengamot duties.
Harry, having already completed his first
year without having to be part of any
sub-body, was finally tasked with being a
junior interrogator on minor cases.
Because of his age, and it was felt he
could better relate to the children, he was
often called upon to sit on cases of minor
child abuse.
Most of his cases, however, were of minor
criminal matters. One such was a case of
petty thievery in The Ministry v
Mundungus Fletcher. Fletcher tried to
explain how it was all a misunderstanding
and how he didn't know he was actually
stealing something.
However, Harry knew the truth about the
man. He was an unrepentant thief, a con
artist, a bald-faced liar, a coward and more.
And Harry wasn't buying any of his pitiful
excuses.
Chapter 400
Harry asked pointed questions and
wouldn't let the man weasel out of
directly answering the questions he asked.
When Fletcher attempted to pontificate,
Harry immediately brought him back to
point. Harry wasn't letting him slide.
Eventually, Fletcher was sentenced to five
years in the low security wing of Azkaban
but was told he'd only serve one year. And,
that the remaining four years he'd be
allowed out on a good behaviour bond.
He was also told that, should he reoffend
during that time, his existing remaining
four years would be added to his next
sentence and he would mandatorily serve
them.
A heartbroken Fletcher was dragged away.
The man knew his days of petty crime
were over, because there was no way he
wanted to serve those other four years of
his sentence.
When Fletcher was released a year later,
he attempted to emigrate a number of
times to other countries, and was denied
each time. Eventually, he was caught in
France, having travelled there by muggle
means by stowing away on the train that
used the Channel Tunnel.
He fought the French aurors and was
killed trying to avoid capture.
Because of the requirements of studying
during their seventh year, the girls' turn at
serving the Wizengamot in other means
was delayed, and Harry received a 'stay'
for the nine months.
For their seventh year, Harry was Head
Boy while, for the first time ever, there
were two Head Girls simultaneously;
Daphne and Hermione. They served their
roles with distinction.
They completed their studies with
Outstandings at least in every subject. And,
before they even received their marks,
had their first jobs already organised.
Harry, as expected, delved even deeper
into politics and became a force to be
both feared and awed by the other
members of the Wizengamot. In time he
was joined by Neville, Susan and a few
other friends in an alliance of such
strength that any law they moved was
passed.
Hermione went into her private spell
research and aided Daphne in developing
new spells for Healing. Daphne eventually
focussed on Healing as a career and
became an emergency trauma specialist
at Saint Mungo's.
Of course, Croaker was determined to
have the three of them in his ranks so,
after much coercion from the old man, the
Potters eventually answered his call.
However, instead of becoming full-time
Unspeakables, the three of them became
part-time specialists in the Department.
While all three became part of the
legislative arm of the Department,
Hermione continued to focus on spell
research for them, Daphne became one of
their Healers available for emergency call
to work in the secret Unspeakable
infirmary, and Harry occasionally - to the
annoyance and fear of his wives - joined
one of their combat teams. Hermione's
Unspeakable name was 'Crafter', Daphne's
was 'Patch' and Harry's was 'Mace'.
While the three did not tell anyone of
their animagus forms, all three knew it
was an unspoken fact that Croaker knew
of them. Harry and he once engaged in a
non-lethal 'training' duel because Harry
cheekily called him 'Santa' in front of the
entire combat arm of the Department.
In the rules of the duel Croaker had said,
"I don't want to see you conjuring up
any wolves, you hear me?"
Harry heard, loud and clear. And Croaker
then, almost effortlessly, spanked him six
ways from Sunday on the piste.
With Harry lying on the floor bound,
frozen, and aching all over, Croaker said,
"And that's what you get for calling
me Santa!"
"You're right," said Harry. "I apologise. I
got the letters in the wrong order. What I
should have called you is Satan!"
Croaker just smirked and said, "I like that
one much better."
When he walked off, not bothering to free
Harry, one of Harry's team walked over
and released him before helping him up.
"Thanks, Spear," he muttered.
'Spear' just snickered and said, "That's
why none of us mouth off to him. He visits
you with pain."
The three, together with the Potter and
Black alliances, finally forced the
Wizengamot to publicly notify all
Squib-borns they should consider visiting
the goblins for an inheritance test.
However, they would not be swayed on
publicly stating why.
From that, the goblins found five who had
come in and who had inheritances of
some form.
One was still a student. And one,
surprisingly, was discovered to be an
illegitimate daughter of Rabastan
Lestrange.
After talking to her, a young witch who
was until then working as a waitress at a
small café in the Alley, what she knew of
her history was that her mother had fallen
pregnant while as a single woman.
Her mother believed herself to be a virgin
until she discovered she was pregnant.
And swore blind she had no idea who the
father was. The goblins and Harry
determined her mother had been raped
by Lestrange and her memories wiped of
the event.
The goblins let him know it was not a rare
occurrence for muggles to be raped by
wizards, and for them to have their
memories modified. However, usually, the
memories were only modified to make the
victim believe they were a willing partner;
not erased of the act completely.
After a lot of discussion between her and
Sirius, Sirius re-established the Lestrange
line and set her a decent stipend and vault,
but under the name of Donovan; her own.
However, it took the forceful application
of the alliances to force the Wizengamot
to accept the name change as the
Wizengamot wanted to see the name
Lestrange re-established.
One of the others, a middle aged wizard,
was the heir of the name Meadows, and
the final one was an heir of MacKinnon.
The angels visited them only twice more.
And that was to give them hints in which
way they wanted them to go with their
efforts. But, five years to the day after
Harry finally rid the world of Voldemort,
they turned up to tell them they'd no
longer be visiting. The three had not just
met their expectations, but exceeded
them.
However, the three continued with their
efforts to improve the lot of all magical
persons and creatures in the magical
world.
Harry went on to become Chief Warlock,
but stepped down when Hermione
became Minister, citing conflict of interest.
He publicly gave the reason he just
couldn't say no to her if she was
determined about something. But, to their
friends, he said he couldn't say no to her if
he didn't want to end up sleeping on the
couch.
The Potters ended up having six children
with the first born to Hermione a year
after she completed her studies. Daphne
had her first after completing her training
as a Master Healer, and the second only a
year later. Then Hermione had twins,
identical girls. And Daphne had her third
two years later.
At that point both wives put a stop to
being baby makers claiming they had no
desire to challenge the Weasley family for
the size of their brood. Harry had begged
for more, claiming one more would give
them a Potter-only Quidditch team. But,
both wouldn't hear of it and refused.
Instead, they ended up adopting a child. A
squib-born whose god-fearing parents,
when they learned of their child being a
magical, attempted to exorcise the
'demon' out of her, nearly killing her in the
process.
Hermione used the spell she'd used on
her parents in the original timeline to
erase knowledge of the child out of the
minds and homes of the child's parents
and their fire and brimstone pastor. And
the child, a lovely girl who suffered a lot of
what Harry had gone through, grew with
the desire to work with the Ministry to
find others like her and her 'Dad' in the
muggle world. And Harry finally had his
Potter brood Quidditch team.
Twenty years after the fall of Riddle for
the second time, the Potters gathered at
Black Island with their extended family for
the anniversary. Sirius came with his wife,
Sophia, and their three children, Antares,
Cassiopea and Orion. Remus turned up
with his wife, Master Auror
'Call-Me-Tonks' Tonks and their two, Teddy
and Regulus. Astoria and her husband,
Draco, came with their two, Scorpius and
Abraxas. And they were joined by
Matthias and Deece, Ant and Cele, and an
unmarried 'Wags'; who liked his nickname
so much he preferred it to his true name.
While the entire family enjoyed a
barbeque on the beach, Harry turned to
his wives and asked, "Thinking back on
everything, now; what would you
change?"
"Nothing" replied Hermione.
"Absolutely nothing," smiled Daphne.
"Yeah," he said. "Me too."
Finite Incantatem!
A/N: Well, that finishes this one. I know I
promised I'd have the next one ready by
now; but, I did not foresee the sheer
amount of work in delays my wife and I
experienced moving home from Canberra
back to Perth. Nor did I take into account
just how long we were going to have to
live in our motorhome, without a reliable
Internet connection, during that time.
I will say, though, that I have quite a few
story ideas being developed and written,
but that it may be a while before I have at
least one of them ready to publish. All I
can say is, 'Watch this Space'. :)
Until next time, ciao!