Jacob nodded at the ceiling. "I guess that flying spell must be a Slytherin family spell. The only other I've heard who could do that was You-Know-Who."
"Yes, the legacy of Slytherin is quite amazing."
"I'll say. So, Harry, going to let us in on how you came by the Lordship?"
"Yes, but before I do I have one more request of you. I need someone to stand in as proxy for my seat. Do you have any recommendations?"
Jacob's eyebrows rose. "Why would you want a proxy?"
"I have a very good reason, at least in the short term, which is part of the details of how I came by the Lordship. Anyone spring to mind?"
"Well," he glanced at his wife, "I suppose Sunny could if it's really necessary. She's had all the training."
Sunny nodded, still staring at Harry.
"Okay," Jacob said."Shall we retire to somewhere more comfortable?"
Ten minutes and some Wizengamot strategising later, Jacob was sat across from Harry with Sunny by his side on the comfy living room sofa. They'd developed quite a good rapport — Sunny especially seemed to be getting on well with him.
"So, Harry, going to keep us in suspense all night?" Sunny joked.
Harry smiled. "You have to understand, by telling you what I'm about to tell you, I'm trusting you with a good number of very important secrets. I know we are now allies, but if these facts became public knowledge-"
"-You don't have to worry about that," Sunny interrupted, possibly with a bit more force than necessary, before reddening slightly, "I-I mean."
Jacob smoothly cut in. "What my lady means, is that we'd like to think ourselves worthy of our word."
"Of course…. Okay then, big reveal time." Harry took a vial of milky blue liquid from the inside pocket of his robes. "Do you know what this is?"
"No," Jacob replied.
"This is the antidote to ageing potion." The young man then uncorked the bottle and swigged the whole vial in one go.
Before their eyes, the man started to transform. His strong features softened, his eyes got larger in proportion to his face, his whole body shrank, and his clothes morphed themselves to his new form. The man sitting across from them was now a boy.
"Whaaa?"
Sunny was speechless.
"This is the main reason I cannot take my seat on the Wizengamot. I was born on July thirty-first, a mere eight years ago. It would cause too many questions to be asked."
Jacob was stunned. Too many questions was right. Too many questions were piling up in his head right now. He'd had no idea what to suspect when the man… boy… when Harry had said he couldn't take his seat — a long lost descendant of the Slytherin line? A bastard perhaps? The son of a squib, maybe? But whatever he was expecting, this wasn't it. One main thought fought its way to the front of his mind and shouted loud enough to be heard.
"So… I just got my ass handed to me by an eight year old?"
Harry smiled, "Yes, Jacob, yes you did."
Sunny spoke up. "How Harry? How did the family magics recognise you so early? You're not supposed to be recognised until you hit your majority. And why now? Why not a year earlier or a year later?"
"Ah, that is very much a Slytherin family secret."
"But you are going to tell us how you are of the Slytherin line?" Jacob asked, remembering the incredibly one-sided fight he'd just had. "You're not You-Know-Who's lost son or something are you? Come to think of it, how are you so damn powerful? And know so much magic? And how do you have a wand? I can't imagine th—"
"Please, one question at a time. And most of those are also Slytherin family secrets. But I can tell you how I ascended to the Lordship. Even if I can't explain the timing."
They sat, expectant.
"Before I continue, I must remind you that my name is Harry. Not anything else, okay?"
They nodded.
Harry pointed his wand at himself, said, "finite incantatem," and his face was wiped clean, to be replaced by another face, a far more annoyingly familiar face.
"John Potter!" Jacob jumped up, anger flowing into him.
"Lord Greengrass! What did I just tell you?"
Jacob stilled, taken aback. "Oh. Ah, yes. My apologies." He sat down again, very carefully, feeling sheepish for his outburst while everyone remained silent.
Sunny was staring intently at the John Potter lookalike, as though trying to work out a puzzle.
"My name is Harry. I was born on the July thirty-first, 1980. I have a twin brother. I'm sure you can see where this is going."
Jacob's eyes bulged despite himself. "You're the brother of the Boy-Who-Lived? I never heard he had one. I've never seen you. Or heard of you. Ever."
"That is because after Voldemort's"—both he and his wife flinched—"attack, I was abandoned by my parents."
"What!" Sunny shouted. "How could they? Why?"
"Tell me, what are the ways you can acquire a Lordship?"
Jacob thought for a moment. "You have to be male — and blood related within three degrees of relation."
"Other ways?"
"Um… You can be blood adopted, but that's considered dark magic now, and illegal."
"Yes, that's two ways. Any others?"
He sat in silence, stumped.
Sunny spoke up, quietly. "Right of conquest."
Harry sat back and smiled a smile with no warmth. "Exactly."
Something seemed to be passing between Harry and his wife, her eyes were widening, and her breathing had become laboured.
"No," she whispered.
"Yes," said Harry.
"What?" he said, totally in the dark.
"Dear," his wife said, "who was the last of the Slytherin line?"
.....
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