Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!
A/N: Sorry for the delay of a day in posting this chapter. I've just found a major plot hole that I have to fix going into the last few chapters. Yes, there's only a few left. I may have to hold off within the next couple of chapters to find a way out of that plot hole before I finalise things and wrap this one up. Something I hate to do is, for those who 'know' me, leave things hanging in limbo. My apologies.
Chapter Eighty Two - Bills, Statutes and Heading for OWLs
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―==(oIo)==―
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The next morning's Daily Prophet contained a short article on page three that berated Amelia Bones and the DMLE for not discovering the culprit or culprits involved in the murder of Hamish Fawley, now that they were almost two weeks into January and a little more than five weeks later.
From the crime novels he still occasionally read when he had the chance, Harry 'knew' that unless the crime was solved within the first few days the likelihood of the culprit being discovered dropped down to the single digit percentages; at least, that's what happened in the muggle world. Now that it had been five weeks he believed the likelihood of the crime being solved was now down to barely a single fraction of a percentage point, if even that, especially seeing as magic was involved.
'Scourgify, anyone?' he thought. That was a quick and simple way to get rid of any trace evidence, if there ever was one.
He did, however, think the culprit was a daft moron in one aspect. He should have immediately transfigured the body into something innocuous and flammable, removed it from the scene, taken it to another unknown location and burned it to ash. No body, no hard evidence of a crime.
However, on a second thought of the issue, he realised that Flint - for who else could it have been - wanted a dead body to show that Fawley had indeed been killed. He just didn't want any evidence that would point back to him while also having everyone know it was him that arranged the man's death.
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―==(oIo)==―
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Besides the Daily Prophet, in the mail that morning was a notice from Ted that the Perth property had now been: purchased outright, as instructed; warded as far as lawfully allowed under Australian magical law, while also recognising that the Wilkinses might have to both access and use the property in the future; the two requested vehicles had been purchased (they ended up being a mid-sized 4WD four-door turbo diesel Toyota Prado and a mid-range Toyota Lexcen (T3) four-door sedan) to 'populate' two bays of the triple-car garage; the emergency portkeys to it had been created and delivered, together with instructions on why and how they worked; and a house elf had been acquired, bonded and set the task of maintaining the property while also keeping an eye on the Wilkinses as they went about their day-to-day lives. Harry hadn't even thought of that last one and was grateful Ted had and acted upon that thought.
With a smile, he handed the details of that over to Daphne, who also had Hermione leaning almost onto her shoulder to also read.
The letter also included details of the property in France. The agents acting on Ted's (Harry's) behalf had followed their instructions and negotiated hard on the final price of the large chateau that had become available from a deceased estate. Harry was surprised by how hard the negotiations must have been because the final price was almost down to the sickle at ₲178,877. He saw the price and just gave a snort of amusement. It was under his limit of ₲200,000 so he really didn't care.
Ted had also organised for the wards to be 'refreshed' by a professional and 'secrecy sworn' warding company, had the floo address reset to a new name and password - 'Potter Retreat' and 'Home Sweet Home' - and also bonded another elf to care for that property.
Moves were still being made to acquire a suitable property in The Hamptons in upstate New York, MaCUSA, with Ted mentioning he might have to contract another property consultancy as the one he'd acquired until then just didn't seem to 'get it' with what Harry wanted. Harry authorised it.
And finally property-wise, Ted had also acquired a few and various properties around both muggle and magical Britain to boost Harry's property portfolio that showed great promise in investment returns.
Secretly and on Harry's only-verbally-given orders, though, he purchased a 'bolt hole' property in Wales, pretty much centrally located on the Isle, and had it warded out the whizzer with every security charm he could get on the property, including unplottable, anti-tracking, anti-scrying and the like. It was a small manor house located in a very out of the way location, nestled in a small valley within a short walking distance of a stream of near pure, but definitely untainted, water. There was not another 'soul' for many miles around. It was highly unusual for a muggle property to be so. And it was muggle, as it had both a well buried power supply running to the property, as well as 'scheme' water - 'black water' was stored in an underground septic tank well away from the house. It also had a quiet gravel drive from the nearest road to the house; a large shed out the back, also powered; and was properly wired throughout.
For that property the warding company had sworn an oath not to directly document or in any way find a way to document the work they'd done and to be obliviated of the knowledge once they'd completed the work. Their work cost about ten times what the property was worth, but was still considered a damned good investment. From that moment forth, the Potters and any trusted allies would now have an escape hole they could run to if any threats arose against the House. The warding company also installed a proper floo, but had the 'registration' for it muddied through a false identity.
Later, Harry planned to have the secret keeper of the property have a Fidelius placed on them that a second secret keeper kept that had the knowledge that the first secret keeper was the secret keeper of the property. It would be what he'd called a double-blind secret; with only the second secret keeper, himself, being able to grant the first secret keeper the ability to tell the secret to only those whom he wanted to know. The first secret keeper could then not tell the secret unless the person needing to know was told the identity of the first keeper by the second keeper.
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―==(oIo)==―
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That evening and once Fleur returned from work, the 'Potters' had a discussion night. Until that night, discussion nights was one of the things that happened organically; weren't planned ahead of time. This night, it was organised.
Harry said, "I think it's time we had a good old-fashioned 'chin-wag' among ourselves again. I'd like to know what is going on in each of your lives we don't already know about. For instance..."
He turned to Hermione and asked, "How goes things with your lessons with Adeline and Alice?"
Surprised, Hermione was a moment before she replied, "Oh! Ummm... We're now down to just discussing things via mail. They've both said I've now acquired a definite understanding of what it means to be a Lady of a Noble and Most Ancient House and what it also means to be the betrothed of one. That's why I won't be going to almost daily lessons with them at the Easter break, let alone the summer break.
"I'm to keep up with my self-study of the matter, but they're still willing to answer any questions I have that the books I read don't cover the answers to."
Harry gave a smile and a nod and said, "That's excellent, Hermione. Well done!"
As the girl gave a slight but pleased smile back, she also pinked a little in unearned embarrassment. "Thank you," she quietly returned.
Turning to Daphne, he asked, "How about you, Daphne? Anything the rest of us should know, but you didn't think important enough for us to discuss immediately?"
She smiled and replied, "I don't believe so, no. Unless you didn't know Justin and Tracey's agreement has now become a contract?"
Surprised, he returned, "No, I didn't know that." He thought for a moment and, though blushing a little, asked, "Was the... condition for which it became a contract along the lines of ours?"
She grinned and replied, "Yes. They've had sex. According to Tracey―"
Quickly he brought his hand before him waving them in rapid warding off gestures while quickly developing a deep blush. "No-no-no! I don't need... I really don't want to know!"
That had all three of his ladies snickering in amusement.
"My fault," he sighed. "I really shouldn't have asked for clarification as to the whys and wherefores."
He gave that a moment to settle as he also brought his slight blush under control and asked, "Ummm... about... CeeCee..."
She just smiled again and replied, "As far as we're aware, she still has her virtue, Harry. However, she's seems to be starting to develop the opinion she doesn't need to have it, if you know what I mean."
"Gods!" he said. "She's thirteen, for God's sake! I pray you girls are all talking to her about that? To... you know... not rush things?"
Hermione replied, "We are. Plus we've also warned her just how much trouble she can get us, especially Justin, in if she... ummm... succumbs to her... wants."
"Not to mention Sirius or Cousin Cissy," said Harry. "It would also put her family back in Perth in danger. Because of her age, if she's found out, someone just might finally be able to get her removed from Sirius and Narcissa's guardianship."
Daphne said, "We hadn't thought of that, but you're right. We'll talk to her about that, too."
With a sigh of relief he believed that part of the discussion was over, he said, "Right. What's next?"
The next subject was the girls' involvement in the Tapestry Circle. Together with how that particular organisation was doing.
Apparently, a few death threats had been issued from some of the more traditionalist Houses of the country - dark, grey and even light - even one or two from over in mainland Europe.
"Madam Bones is immediately alerted of those and she and her aurors deal with them," explained Hermione. "However, Narcissa is now being carefully watched by aurors when she goes out and about; much like you used to be."
Harry gave a very slight wince at that. He completely empathised with the older witch.
Noticing Harry's reaction, Daphne immediately said, "She doesn't mind that, Harry. She sees the danger, too."
A few other subjects were raised, but nothing of much consequence. They had an early night.
Daphne joined him but, within an hour, she was the solid form of a gooey puddle of oxytocins and endorphins spread on the bed, reeking of sex and gently snoring.
Harry had spent about three to four minutes watching her sleep, feeling good about himself, before he too drifted off.
Out in the living room Betsy popped in, sighed in exasperation and removed the silencing charm on the door. She quietly muttered "Betsy wants babies, dammit!"
The last was a mild curse both elves 'picked up' from Harry, who constantly used it. If Harry had heard it, he would have laughed his arse off.
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―==(oIo)==―
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Now back at the school and with things settling down - with no constant attempts to harm Harry - the Heirs focused on their studies while also slipping in the now rarer opportunities to exercise. Harry was also slipping in time to write his Bill for the February session of the Wizengamot.
News from outside the castle was somewhat minimal, except for the few times some idiot journalist, clearly bored with the 'normalcy' of things, tried to stir something up. Luckily for them, they never targeted Harry or the Alliance. They'd finally learned their lesson.
Closer to their own interests it was learned that the new Noble Houses of Spinnet, Diggory and Hilliard had all accepted membership into the Grand Alliance, after all.
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―==(oIo)==―
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Four and a half weeks later and it was the next meeting of the Alliance, though there was no January sitting of the 'Mot. This time it was held at Abbott's Ford, the home of the Seat of the now Noble and Ancient House of Abbott.
The first order of business was the introduction of the new member Houses, with the 'spouses' joining them for the moment. They were Amos, his wife Florentina ('Tina') and Cedric Diggory (now adult son); Simon, his wife Maude, Geraldine (adult daughter) and Robert (adult son) Hilliard; and Caden, Rosaline, Rueben (adult son) and Alicia Spinnet (adult, though still a student, daughter).
Amos, Simon and Caden joined them at the table with Cedric, Robert and Reuben sitting behind their 'Heads', as was proper. The others joined the spouses in the parlour as the informal dining room was now not even close to being large enough to contain them all, even with expansion charms active.
The three then 'officially' received their copies of the new charter, even though they'd all been granted permission from Frank to read the master copy to ensure there was nothing contained within they'd object to. Harry had heard that they were all surprised it wasn't as restrictive as they'd each feared, with Caden even voicing that.
They now numbered an even two dozen Houses in their membership, with fourteen of those being Noble votes upon the Wizengamot - plus now two extra with the Ministry votes of Amelia Bones and Miles Ogden. That was quite the considerable voting block.
And they knew they had it and were well prepared to use it.
"Otherwise, why have it?" Harry had 'innocently' asked.
Sirius chuckled and added, "He's right. What is the purpose of the Alliance... politically... if not for this sort of thing?"
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―==(oIo)==―
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Before heading back to school, Sirius took Harry aside.
Pre-arranged, Sirius had gone out and collected three gifts for Harry's three ladies for Valentine's Day. It was now only two days away, on the Monday.
Surreptitiously taking the shrunken packages out of his pocket and offering them to Harry, he said, "As you requested, Pup."
Just as surreptitiously accepting them and sliding them into his own pocket, Harry asked, "They were able to accomplish the order, no problems?"
"Yup," smirked Sirius. "And, I say again, it's a bloody brilliant idea."
As he grinned, Harry breathed a sigh of relief.
When his ladies cast curious looks at him a little later, clearly wondering what he and Sirius had talked about, Harry just grinned at them and said, "Nothing for you three to worry about. Just godson and godfather business."
Hermione gave an amused hurrumph and quietly said, "Sounds like someone's going to get pranked."
"Now, Hermione," he grinned. "Just because Sirius cannot sometimes help himself, does not mean everything he does is a prank."
"Rarely," snorted Daphne.
Also having arrived from her mother about a week after she'd sent off her request to her, Hermione received a stack of books in return with a short note.
~ # ~
Hermione dear,
Your father and I believe you're correct. We're just as surprised as you that Harry's 'issues' could be such. However the written evidence, coupled with the observational evidence, reflects your belief.
Take note of the sections relating to Autism Spectrum Disorder. Your father and I are both of the firm belief this disorder is what plagues Harry. However we both also believe Harry has a very mild form of this, known as 'high functioning'; and is why no one has picked up on it until now.
The books will also give you some indication as to how to better interact with someone who suffers such. We strongly urge you to take note of that and act accordingly.
Mum and Dad
~ # ~
Without letting Harry know what she'd received and at her first opportunity, Hermione grabbed both other girls and led them into her room for a 'girls chat session'.
She then showed them both the letter she'd received from her mother and the books.
She said, "I suggest we each read these, switching the books out between us, then have another chat about it later."
Both other girls agreed.
By the time of the February Alliance meeting, all three of Harry's ladies had read the books and had their 'Ah-ha!' moments. The information concerning ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) and Aspergers Syndrome, with the latter now recognised as a subset of the former, explained so much. They all agreed with Monica's belief and wondered why they'd not investigated the issue before then.
"We're not trained childhood psychologists," replied Hermione. "That is, mind healers for children. Healer Bincutty was able to test for it because she's trained; we're not."
"But, still," said Fleur, "It explains so much."
"Indeed," nodded Daphne.
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―==(oIo)==―
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Bincutty/Klein, however, had also been doing her research. She had been in touch with muggle child and juvenile psychologists and taken her non-identifiable patient interview notes with her. Each and every one of them, based on her notes, all gave the same 'diagnosis'; Patient X was suffering from a very mild form of Aspergers.
However, theirs went deeper. Besides providing advice to their colleague on how she could further test to narrow her diagnosis down even further, they also pointed out other issues.
Of the seven psychologists, four gave their opinions that the child was also suffering from a mild form of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), had very likely been abused as a child (which likely explained the PTSD), was highly intelligent (common with those diagnosed with ASD) and indicated where in the Patient's psyche notes he had issues relating to emotional disconnect.
Once her interviews were completed, she then illegally went through the notes of each psychologist to find their own patients suffering from similar. Picking twenty one of the child ASD diagnosed at random, she located them and began to observe them to see how close their symptoms related to those displayed by Lord Potter.
From that twenty one she narrowed her list down to six. Then, she carefully set up situations where the child saw something, she then surreptitiously obliviated them of the knowledge and asked them questions relating to what she'd obliviated from their minds. Of that six, five 'proved' the oblivation did not hold.
And, finally, she wrote up her report and presented it to Croaker.
Sitting in the chair opposite Croaker's desk as the Head Unspeakable read through her report, skipping through sections until he reached her conclusions, he finally gave a grunt, looked her back in the eye and said, "So; it's proven, then. Potter's ability to shrug off obliviations is related to his, as you put it, autism.
"Yes, sir," she firmly and immediately replied. "I can, of course, widen my experimentation and research, but I believe it will only strengthen my claims."
He nodded and said, "Five out of six is pretty conclusive, isn't it?"
Knowing Croaker didn't expect a response, she remained silent.
A few moments later, after appearing deep in thought, he asked, "Any idea why one of the six did not show signs of being able to throw off the obliviations?"
"I think the... degree... of their autism wasn't as strong, or as deep if you prefer, as the other five," she replied. "I'll also point out these were all muggles. If I was able to find similar numbers of witches or wizards who suffered from this I think we might find it would be six out of six who were able to shrug it off."
Croaker sighed, sat back and rubbed his temples. "Your research shows us that, if there are other witches and wizards like Potter, there could well be those we've obliviated in the past of knowledge we do not want them to have, who have then kept it secret the obliviations didn't work on them."
"Yes," she firmly returned. "However, as they've obviously not gone on to share that information... otherwise we'd've heard about it... I don't think it's as big an issue as it could be. They're keeping silent, which is what we wanted, anyway."
Croaker gave a grunt affirming her response.
"The bigger issue is one I've not written down," she said. "I felt it was too dangerous to do so. However, if you were to reason it out, you'd also see it."
"Oh?" he quiet asked, looking back at her with intensity.
"I have not written down that the muggles' own research into this syndrome have reached certain conclusions," she replied. "First; the numbers of those suffering from autism are now at about one in every fifteen hundred. Second; the numbers are steadily and gradually rising with belief the numbers will increase to at least three in every fifteen hundred by the turn of the century. Third; in almost all cases the diagnosed were male, but the numbers of females is also increasing. And, by no means the least important, fourth; with that many I have no doubt there are those muggles who were supposedly oblivated by the Ministry's Obliviation Teams of seeing magic, but still remember it.
"Of the last, if word of that gets out, I fear those Obliviation teams will become muggle execution teams, just to keep the secret of magic from the muggles."
Croaker was a long moment before he quietly said, "Weeellll... shit!"
Klein nodded back.
With a long sigh, Croaker said, "Alright. This information just went to Deep Secret. All your research is to be so classified. Bundle it all up and lock it up. Even the knowledge the research exists is now a Deep Secret, understand?"
"Yes, sir," she replied.
"Continue to assist our young Lord Potter," he went on, "But also remove any link to his... what did you call it? Autism?"
"In full, Autism Spectrum Disorder," she replied. "But, yes, autism."
"Autism," he nodded. "Remove that phrase and any linked to it from your written notes and call it something else, that Post Trauma thingy sounds best, but continue to treat the young man, regardless."
"Yes, sir," she replied. "However, I should also point out that ASD... autism... might not be the only PDD, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, where there's pathology of an immunity to obliviations. It's just the only one I've specifically tested against. If there are more... and more common..."
Staring at her for a moment he snarked, "Gee... Thanks, so much."
She just smiled a little and gave a shrug meant as apology.
When he gave a nod and returned to reading the report, this time fully, she knew she'd been dismissed. She rose and quietly made her way out.
Beginning to read the report in full, Croaker could feel a new headache coming on. He mused, 'That young... smartarse... is causing me... everyone, really... no end of problems and it's not even his bloody fault.'
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―==(oIo)==―
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Before Fleur left for work on Monday morning and while he was finalising her breakfast, Harry asked her to go wake the other two and ask them to join them.
Without even asking, Fleur just agreed and went in to wake them both.
When both came out they joined Harry and a now eating Fleur in the apartment's small dining room.
"What's going on?" asked Hermione.
Harry had a cup of tea prepared for both, but before they could even take their first sips he offered a small package to each of the three.
The size and shape had each of them give a small gasp of surprise - they were clearly ring boxes.
Harry, pleased at their initial reactions, smiled back and said, "Well, go on then, open them."
And all three did just that.
Of course, the gift was a ring for each. Each was a ladies' signet ring with the House Potter crest on it. In Hermione's case, there was a small diamond embedded in what would be the bottom left quarter of the shield; Fleur's was a sapphire and Daphne's was an emerald.
All three girls, with Daphne asking first, demanded Harry slip them onto their fingers. He was happy to do so.
As soon as each ring slipped onto their fingers it slightly warmed before resizing to fit.
"They aire... magnifique!" Fleur softly exclaimed.
"I bought you each a ring that clearly forms a set," explained Harry. "Each is only different in the stone used in the quartered shield. And each has certain protective charms laid on them in the form of runes. I'll let you figure them out, as I'm sure you'd want to do even if I told you what they were."
Hermione, still staring at her ringed finger with a watery smile, muttered, "You know us so well."
"Uh-huh," he nodded. "I know what effect Fleur's choker has had on the population of Hogwarts. And, if all it took was the choker to tell one and all she's protected by me, then I think the rings will add to that for each of you."
"Yes," said a just as teary-eyed Daphne. "It is very clever."
Almost as one, the three girls then almost fought one another to give Harry the best snogging of the three.
"Happy Valentine's Day," they each said to one another.
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―==(oIo)==―
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The next day was the day of the February sitting of the Wizengamot. And Sirius's Bill was, of course, the first and main matter discussed.
It should have been no surprise it passed, considering the size of the voting bloc of the Grand Alliance, but Harry was still so. The margin was even larger than he hoped in his wildest dreams at over seventy percent in favour.
As of that day it became, with a few very specific exceptions, illegal for two or more of opposite sexes to enter a relationship agreement in any form where the two had a common ancestor within the past five generations.
Of course, there was also mutterings of those ignorant traditionalists who just wouldn't accept that determination. Those mutterings were of those who thought they could skirt the law by sending the two to get bonded overseas to have the ceremony performed there. Therefore, having first heard it some time ago, Sirius had included an addendum into the Bill at almost the last minute that covered that. Anyone who tried that path would have their bondings refused to be recognised within magical Britain. And, any child born of that union would be legally recognised within magical Britain as a bastard and locked out of inheriting titles.
That, too, caused a furore. However, it gained very loud support from the Tapestry Circle. Sirius countered much of the negativity directed his way by indicating his fiancé and pointing out how she was both a pureblood of high enough standing and they did not have such a common ancestor. And strengthened that by, with permission of the heirs, showing their own ancestries and lack of such a common ancestor.
"It can be done, my fellow Members," he firmly stated. "It just takes a little bit more effort. If you don't do this, your laziness will... as has been proven... kill or deform babies. Dead or deformed babies cannot carry on your bloodlines, so you don't want that.
"Do what is right; not what is easy. Or be prepared for your House to go extinct."
That, temporarily at least, shut up those still muttering in annoyance.
The Bill ended up being passed and becoming the Statute for the Protection and Magical Strengthening of the Bloodlines. A new, though small, office within the Department of Wizarding Childrens' Services would be created to oversee the enforcement of the Statute. All Inheritance Tests would still be undertaken at Gringotts and a Gringotts Certified Document containing the bloodlines would now be required as an addendum to the new registration form, together with a copy of the Relationship Agreement, to register a Relationship Agreement with the new Office. And such registration would be required in advance of any handfasting or similar.
The passing of the Bill into Statute was met with raucous applause from the visitors' gallery in approbation.
Harry was thankful that the majority of the blood bigots were now dead. Maybe Ron did not mean to kill them all, while also killing himself in the process; but Harry knew he had to be thankful for that event of serendipity, even if it was accidental.
It now meant they were all just that much safer from harm.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
With Sirius's Bill now an actual Statute, Harry stood to give the first reading of his own Bill; the Bill for the Protection of Muggle-Raised Wizarding Secrecy.
He opened with an overview of why he was standing, what he saw as the issue and how the Bill, if accepted into becoming a Statute, would rectify that issue.
"One moment, Lord Potter," interrupted one of the newly inducted Lords, not realising he should not be cutting in. "Am I to understand you had at least two bouts of accidental magic in public that were not attended by Ministry Obliviators?"
"You understand correctly," Harry nodded. "One was when I was six years old and turned the hair of my grade three teacher a bright blue. It was done in front of twenty-six six year old children, of which only two were approved to know of magic - myself and my cousin. Of the other twenty four, they were of twenty three different families - two were twins. Of course, there's also the teacher, herself.
"The second time was when I was seven years old and accidentally apparated from out of the school playground and onto the roof of one of the school buildings. While I do not believe I was seen apparating, nor did I know at the time that is what happened, the entire school staff... and most of the kids, too... knew I had to be rescued from off that roof by one of the school's staff, the custodian, with a ladder. I was, at the time, unable to explain how it happened, but it is known something... odd... had occurred.
"All other times of accidental magic were while I was inside the prison-home of the Dursleys, when Dumbledore would show up and illegally obliviate everyone - including my very young, at the time, muggle cousin Dudley."
That had quite a few mutterings of both shock and outrage from the Members.
"In a nutshell my Bill, once it becomes a Statute, will have not just Ministerial Obliviators turn up at a scene of accidental magic, but also trained first contact responders who will advise the family of the muggleborn what had just happened. These first contact responders will also provide the family of the new muggleborn with a method by which the family will be able to immediately alert the Obliviators that something has magically happened and they need to attend. I suggest something like a rune stone with an alert charm the family can activate.
"I also believe it will cause less accidental magic events if the young muggleborn and their family is given some counselling into how to prevent such occurrences in the future through meditation techniques, etcetera. And, as we all know, the less accidental magic events that occur, the greater the protection of wizarding secrecy."
Turning to look directly to Ogden, Harry said, "Chief Warlock, the House of Potter thanks you for this opportunity to present its views and submit for first reading the Bill for the Protection of Muggle-Raised Wizarding Secrecy." And quietly sat.
The Bill contained a great deal more than what Harry had just spoken of, but that was a very important part of it, all the same.
During his talks with mind-Healer Bincutty, he'd asked about what obliviations did to a young child. And, from that, figured out some very important points. First, the obliviation of a young child was fraught with the danger of causing permanent mental harm to the child. Second, that mental harm generally was in the form of an alteration to the child's psyche. And, third, oblivations weren't legally allowed to be performed on children. Instead, the memory they would normally obliviate in the adult was supposed to be, instead, locked behind the mental form of a notice-me-not charm within the mind of the child. However, the Ministry's Obliviators had gotten lazy and, whether through ignorance of the problem/law or carelessness, simply obliviated everyone.
It was through those talks, Harry had come to understand that much of Hermione's driven need to 'know everything' may well have come from once knowing something to do with magic as a child and being obliviated of it; and subconsciously knowing she once knew something, but did no longer. He could also see similar in Colin Creevey's incessant need to document everything in the wizarding world through the medium of photography. Through that medium he would then have a record of things he may 'forget about' at a later time. Sally-Anne Perks, another muggleborn, before her parents had pulled her out of Hogwarts had the habit of trying to fade into the background so she wouldn't be seen. If she wasn't seen, she wouldn't be obliviated.
Harry's Bill would go a long way to seeing muggleborns not have their memories hidden within their minds, let alone be obliviated of them. The Obliviators would be forced to bring in a Ministry 'expert' in integrating muggleborns into the magical world at the first sign of accidental magic. The law made it flat out illegal, with prison time if breached, to tamper with the memories of muggleborns.
He just hoped he'd be able to get the Bill through to being enacted and becoming a Statute.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Almost immediately after Harry had submitted his Bill for first reading, Amelia stood and submitted the first of her own.
The first was an addition to the existing Statute that laid out the laws surrounding the creation of the Ministry's overall budget.
As she'd tabled at the meeting of the Alliance back in January, it had two main parts. The first was a Wizengamot-ordered increase to the DMLE budget. The second was for the DMLE budget to be tied as a minimal percentage of the entire Ministry budget.
As it was only a 'small' change, as most of the Members believed, it was a quick 'reading' with minimal discussion.
She then moved straight onto her next item, a bill that - for national security, of course - would require all Ministry personnel to give oaths to always support the lawful government of the time and to never work willingly or knowingly contrary to the law; or be required to resign from the Ministry and not able to return unless willing and able to make such an oath.
As she couched the entire thing as a national security provision, rather than a way to stop dark lords infiltrating their people into positions of knowledge and power within the Ministry, she even had some of the Lords of dark Houses unconsciously nodding in agreement with her.
Harry quietly wondered how long it would take before those nodding Lords of dark Houses would realise that little fact. And further wondered just how many current employees within the Ministry were suddenly going to find that giving that oath would also mean they'd no longer be able to accept bribes to, among other things, 'look the other way'. Accepting a bribe would be working 'willingly or knowingly contrary to the law'.
Striking while the iron was hot, she then went into her third item of business to be brought before the Wizengamot.
As the Alliance knew, she wanted the existing laws gone through with the intent to strip out those Statutes, or sections of Statutes, that protected the 'wrong sort of people'. Harry again immediately thought of the one that protected purebloods from the use of Veritaserum in trials, but still didn't say anything.
That was the term she used, too; 'the wrong sort of people'. With a grin, Harry had immediately realised that, for him and his, that meant those who were bigots, law breakers, etcetera. For the bigotted purebloods, it meant muggleborns and, somewhat, halfbloods. She just never clarified what she meant by the terminology she used, though Harry and the other sitting members of the Alliance certainly knew. At the meeting she'd even explained she'd be using that term and why. Then she immediately looked at Harry and smirked.
She'd just silently let him know she'd employed logic, as he did, and developed her strategy. She confirmed it for him, later and during the socialising and informal period after the official meeting, when he'd deliberately sought her out and asked.
He'd laughed in amusement.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
It was only the next morning Harry received a 'rushed' package from Ted. It had the details of a property in the Hamptons - Southhampton, to be precise - that Ted felt was absolutely perfect. And, the 'cherry on top' was that it was actually a wizarding home; yet another deceased estate.
Harry took one look at the accompanying photographs and sent Ted back a letter telling him to purchase it.
The home was on a two acre block surrounded by a high hedge on three sides, missing the front. It was a two storey above ground with a basement covering the entire footprint. Like many homes the basement had casement windows, meaning the floor of the ground floor was about three feet off the ground.
Because it was an American wizarding home it had all comforts of a muggle home, with protective rune schema on those items that were sensitive to magic. That is, it had electricity, reverse-cycle ducted air-conditioning, a natural gas connection for the built in appliances that needed it, a triple garage with driveway access, etcetera. Even better, as it was a deceased estate, the inheritors were throwing in the furniture as part of the sale; but not the cars. A house elf was also currently maintaining the property, but was also not part of the sale.
Harry's letter to Ted included instructions to purchase a house elf and 'employ' it to maintain the property, replace the existing beds with new and 'stock' the garage with two vehicles similar to the two at the Lesmurdie property in Perth, Australia. For the time being the third bay in the garage would be kept free.
The property in America was priced on a par with the property he purchased in France. However, it was a little bigger, plus had the muggle facilities the one in France did not.
With the purchase of the one in Southampton, New York, that was the three important purchases made that would be public - Perth, France and The Hamptons - plus the bolthole property in the middle of Wales. And it had all been accomplished in only a couple of months. He was right pleased. It no longer amazed him how fast things could be accomplished when you were willing to throw gold at solving a problem.
"Now," he softly breathed, "About that motoryacht..."
And he began thinking about what he'd want in such a vessel to make it as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. It then took him only a minute or two to realise he needed to know what types of yachts, together with what you could have in them, before he could think about having one built.
He grabbed a sheet of parchment and began to write a letter to Ted. He wanted the man to organise for him a subscription or two to magazines dedicated to the big motoryachts.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
By the middle of March the Heirs had all become comfortable with the 'dark' new Lords and Heirs at the other end of the Lords' Quarters corridor. Like Gibberd and Whitehead not once did Warrington, Beilby, Urquhart or Alton give them any sort of signal, subtle or not, that they meant any of the Heirs harm; including CeeCee.
Harry had also received his first copy; delivered via a redirect using the muggle to wizarding, and vice versa, postal service; of a luxury motoryacht magazine. Ted had come through for him. Amusing him, the man had also written this pretty long diatribe-disguised-as-a-report about how much money a yacht both cost to purchase and cost to maintain.
However, once Hermione saw the magazine for the first time she all-but demanded to know why he'd subscribed. That led to him explaining he had the inkling of an idea he might like to build or purchase one in the future.
However, he should have realised she wouldn't be so easily put off with his wishy-washy response. She'd corralled the other two girls and they tag-teamed him into coughing up the truth.
With a sigh he explained, "I had the idea that, once we're all done with out NEWTs, we take a 'gap year' like they do in the muggle world. We take a year off, directly after our NEWTs, and sail the world for that year. Except for the crew of the yacht, we'd be out of the limelight for pretty much that entire time... just us.
"Once we got that out of our system, we'd be better prepared for entering the workforce, knuckling down and getting on with it. That is, of course, if entering the workforce is something you want to do."
"What do you mean?" asked Daphne, getting in before either of the other two could.
"I mean," he replied, "None of you, including myself, are under any obligation to enter the workforce if you do not want to; ever. Yes, I know that Fleur has her desire to get her mastery in curse-breaking. And that you two have your eyes set on careers. But, there's no rush. You can take all the time in the world."
The three all looked to one another before Hermione asked, "Do you have your heart set on this?"
"No," he was quick to reply. "However, if we do want to do this, I need to start work on it now. It can take a couple of years to build a yacht."
"And if we decide not to?" asked Daphne.
"Then we can use the yacht as an ocean getaway for short periods of time," he replied. Indicating the magazine, he said, "I've read in here you can easily charter the yacht out when you know you're not going to be using it."
Hermione gave a quiet huff and said, "Then, if we do decide to do this, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have the yacht built. If we don't decide to do it I suppose it'll be easy enough to sell it."
Harry grinned back in happiness and laid a huge kiss on her cheek. He was worried they'd put their combined feet down and flat-out refuse him, but it appeared his worry was in vain.
He didn't tell them, though, that yachts were both bloody expensive to own and maintain, let alone purchase, and you never made anywhere near the money back on them.
"Keep on your research of this and we'll revisit the idea and, next summer, we'll have a second look at what more you've come up with," she added.
Harry was all for that. He already knew he'd like to take the yacht through to some quite odd locations that he thought 'interesting'. One of those was the Panama Canal, another was the Manchester Ship Canal and a third was the canal and lock system that allowed ships to get deep into the northern half of North America through some 'seaway', bypassing Niagara Falls in the process. That meant there would be a limit to the dimensions of the vessel that would need to be researched - draft, headway, beam and length. However, because he wanted trans-oceanic, it also had to have some pretty serious bunkerage for fuel. They just wouldn't tell anyone he'd have runes installed to keep the tanks 'topped up' to a minimum amount.
He'd get Ted onto that... as if the man didn't have enough to do. He thought Ted should see it as punishment for going against him on building a yacht.
Yeah, he'd palm the job off on one of his muggleborn interns; but that was alright in Harry's book.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
At the March Wizengamot session on the fifteenth, Harry was able to get his Bill passed and it became a Statute. However, he felt it had more to do with there being no less than five sets of laws up for decision. Members had to be feeling a little snowed under with all the work, than it being anything else. Besides Harry's one and Amelia's three, another Member had put forth a Bill for a second reading that dealt with magical creatures. Yes, the fact he was the Boy-Who-Lived and he intimated pretty heavily on his own upbringing had a lot to do with getting his Bill enacted, but it got through with minimal amendments.
He was so happy about it he even hung back at the end of the session to allow well-wishers to congratulate him on getting his first Bill passed into legislation.
As for Amelia's: She got the amendment for the Ministry's budget regarding a minimum percentage assigned to the DMLE; she also got through the Bill to have the laws reviewed with the intent to have them pared back. However, her Bill to have all Ministry personnel swear an oath to, effectively, not break the law ended with amendments so severe it was almost worthless. However, she would work on it and made sure the oath she'd be forcing Ministerial employees to take would at least stop them actively supporting a future dark lord or lady. It was only the 'not able to take bribes' part that was important and lost. The Lords wanted to keep that... no surprise.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Also by March, the Fifth Years had begun to look towards reviewing for their OWLs... except for Hermione; she started in January. However, Hermione's stress levels were also starting to ramp up and the other denizens of the Potter Apartment were keeping a close eye on her.
"Hermione, remember our warnings of last year," said Fleur.
"Good point," said Harry. Turning to look at his betrothed, he said, "One minute past a four hour study limit and it's no sex for a month for each breach."
Horrified, Hermione whined back, "But, Harry! It's OWLs!"
"Shall I set the maximum time to three hours?" he calmly asked.
Looking as if she was feeling betrayed, he sighed and calmly asked, "Just how long did Fleur study for, for her NEWTs, Hermione?"
"I..." she began, before everyone saw her shoulders slump a little in defeat and sigh. "No more than three hours a night."
"A lot less than that," smirked Fleur. "I only studied that long for the exams I knew would be the 'ardest. For the easier ones... well, easier for me... I only studied about an 'our and a 'alf.
"The trick, if you can call it that, is to know what is important to study and focus on that. I will 'elp you, there. Plus, as I have already told you, studying for too long is even worse than not studying at all. Your mind simply cannot absorb that much information."
Hermione silently nodded back. But she did have her head down.
The other three - Harry, Fleur and Daphne - knew it meant she would obey the 'order'. That allowed Harry to relax his firmness in the limitations he'd placed on her.
"Hermione," he said, getting her attention. "I know it might come over all unrelenting when I limit your studying like that, but you can also see that both Daphne and Fleur are in agreement in this.
"How about you ask for Fleur's help during the evenings in guiding you towards what would be best you focus your studying on, so you don't waste time in studying what doesn't really matter?
"Actually, I think she can help the three of us in that endeavour. What do you say?"
That had the girl smile back in happiness before she turned to Fleur. "You... wouldn't mind?"
"Certainly not," Fleur firmly replied. "And, 'Arry is correct; I will be able to guide the three of you in what you need to apply your focus upon for each of your subjects."
That had Hermione hug her and softly say, "Thank you."
"Yes," said Daphne. "Thank you."
Harry quietly blew her a kiss.
From then on, the Potters set aside at least two hours a night after dinner to focus on specific revision for their upcoming OWL exams. A lot of it was reviewing what they'd studied in class that day with Fleur indicating what she thought would be the most important.
She also told them about how each of the wand-based classes, especially, had the allowance in the practical side of the examination for the testee to go for bonus points.
"It is here where you have the most to gain," she explained. "Demonstrating knowledge and skills above OWL level can mean the difference between an Outstanding Plus and a simple Outstanding, or an Outstanding and an Exceeds Expectations."
Harry said, "Then perhaps we should also see if we can figure something out for each class that will allow us to go for those bonuses. For a start, for DADA, I think I'll be trying to teach each of you how to cast the Patronus Charm."
"That would do it," nodded Fleur. "You could also use that one for Charms."
"Can we cast a Patronus?" asked a worried Daphne.
"Oh, yeah," grinned Harry. "If I can cast a one in third year, you can cast one in your fifth.
"Besides, I know the secret of how to cast one. Plus, I'll be the one teaching you."
She looked surprised for a moment before she snorted in amusement and almost snarkily said, "A bit full of yourself, aren't you?"
"Not if I'm right," he replied, unfazed. "And I know I am."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
From then on, the Potters had their study schedule for the remainder of the school year through to their OWLs.
As promised, Harry began instruction in how to cast the Patronus charm for his ladies; and Fleur was quick to also 'demand' she be taught, even though she didn't need to learn it for any exams. However, once the other Heirs discovered Harry was teaching the Patronus, the other ladies all turned 'puppy dog eyes' on him. He found himself quickly surrendering and offering to teach the others, including MacMillan.
Because they wouldn't have room in the apartments, the Heirs all trooped up to the Room of Requirement and began their lessons there. Before long he also had a few others also asking to be taught, including aurors.
Harry just developed a mien of pained acceptance and just got on with it.
The first to 'get it' was Fleur. Her Patronus turned out to be a seagull. Once she found hers and cast her first corporeal Patronus, the others very quickly began to get their own.
Hermione's was an otter - Patronus otter, p. otter, Potter - no surprise, really. Daphne's was a jaguar. Neville's was a lion - again, no surprise. Susan's was an alsatian german shepherd. Hannah's was a beagle. Justin's was a great ape. Tracey's was a meerkat. Ernie's, one of the last to 'get it', was a porcupine.
CeeCee was close to getting a fully corporeal Patronus but was not quite there yet. However it looked big, whatever it was. While she was disappointed, Harry was quick to assure her she wasn't far off and reminded her she was two years younger.
"You'll get there," he said. "We'll just have to come up with a better memory for you. You just need time."
He also managed to teach three aurors the skill through to corporeal Patronuses. They each had: a standard grey wolf, some sort of fish and a small monkey. The fish surprised him the most, as he'd not seen a water environment based Patronus before. It seemed to swim through the air with the same ease its organic brethren would have swum through water.
Harry then had a visit from Amelia where he had to promise to help teach the skill to other aurors during summer.
He just gave her a pained expression and replied, "If I have time. We haven't sorted out our summer schedule yet."
She didn't push it.
For transfiguration, Fleur put them through their paces on inanimate to animate transfiguration, pushing forward for the bonus points by making the item they animate perform a dance or something. This time, Hermione picked it up first, then Daphne and lastly Harry. Harry focused on turning something like a chalice into a dancer. That sort of magic required finesse; something he lacked compared to the others. He was more brute force and knew it.
Harry had also decided to keep his promise to Hermione and studied Tracey's notes for Muggle Studies. He'd put his name forward to take the OWL for it and carefully went through what they were studying and he suspected of what would be in the exam. Then went ahead and researched the new area of digital communications for the bonus points. He couldn't see anyone else focusing on that.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ