Kapitel 290: HPWW501-510
Chapter 501
After a somewhat restless night compounded by sleeping
in an 'unusual' bed and knowing his 'loves' were nowhere
near him, Harry woke reasonably early and headed down
to the kitchen to make himself something for breakfast.
However, before he even got in the door, that faux-hated,
annoying, joy-killing, high pitched voice said, "Brekky be
on the informal dining table, Master Harry."
"Damn it, Dobby!" he barked. "Can't I, at least, cook
myself breakfast in my own home?"
"Master Harry doesn't want Dobby any more? Master
Harry wants to steal house elveses works off them?" said
Dobby. "Oh... Master Harry. Dobby is so... distraught!
Dobby is shamed―"
"Alright! Alright!" Harry barked. "Fiiiine! I'll eat the bloody
breakfast you cooked for me." Then muttered, "Sawn off
little annoying unwanted sprog of a... whatever."
In the kitchen, Dobby looked to a concerned Pinty and
grinned. "Master Harry is happy now."
What Harry missed most, that morning, was having at
least someone around him; preferably, more than just one
someone. He hadn't realised how much he'd miss the girls
and it hadn't even been a full day.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Once breakfast was finished, Harry called on Willy to
organise the Potter library so that Hermione, at least,
could browse it and read books.
"Put the cursed, or otherwise protected, books into one or
more bookcases, all together," he instructed. "Then ward it
from hands that are not meant to touch them. I don't want
to see people even accidentally hurt. Got all that?"
"Yes, Master Harry," replied Willy.
"And, don't forget to label it as such."
"Will do, Master Harry."
"Excellent," he nodded.
Willy popped away to get it done.
He quickly checked his watch to ensure himself it wasn't
too early. It wasn't. He smiled and decided to go visit
Hermione.
He'd just entered the welcoming parlour, which contained
the fireplace, when the fireplace whoomphed and turned
green. He heard Hermione's voice cry, "Rule Britannia!"
A moment later, she stepped out into the room.
With a big grin on her face, she cried, "Harry!" And,
basically, charged the twenty feet from the floo hearth to
where he stood, tackling him to the floor.
"Oof!" he cried.
Before he even had a chance to say anything, she
mashed her lips to his and proceeded to snog him, right
on the floor, just in from the doorway.
A good thirty seconds later, she finally pulled back and sat
on his hips.
"Hi, Hermione," he said.
She grinned and calmly replied, "Hi, Harry."
He asked, "Do you know that the reason I was in the room
was because I was on my way to floo to your place?"
She grinned and replied, "Of course not. But, 'like minds'
and all that."
"What brings you here?" he asked.
"I missed you, of course," she replied. "And, why were you
about to floo to my place?"
"Because I missed you," he replied.
"Aren't you supposed to be going to Sirius's place?"
"Yes. But, I thought you'd like to come along."
"See?" she declared. "Same thoughts, again. That's why
I've come here, first."
"Well," he said. "We're not going anywhere if you don't hop
off me, first."
She smirked and said, "I think it's a little early to go to
Sirius's place yet." Then she gave a little grind and said,
"How about we go up to the master suite and christen the
real master bed."
Hew grinned back and asked, "You're sure? Have you
been a good girl?"
She giggled and said, "Yes. But I want to be a baaaad
girl."
As he laughed, she hopped up and offered him a hand to
help him to his feet.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
An hour later, freshly washed again, the two teens headed
back to the welcoming parlour and flooed to Sirius's place.
Stepping out, they were a bare moment before someone
they didn't know stuck their head in the door.
Both teens immediately drew their wands and aimed back.
The head, what appeared to be that of a young man, gave
a short 'yelp' of shock and pulled their head back out.
"Remus!" they heard someone yell. It sounded like it could
have been the voice of the person who'd just stuck their
head in. The voice had an odd inflection to it, like it was
foreign. And someone had hurried away.
Both teens moved to different sides of the doorway and
Harry, on the non-hinged side, quickly stuck his head out
before immediately yanking it back in again. When there
was no spell fire he stuck his head out to have a better
look.
Before the two could think what to do next, there was a
hurried clatter of running feet on the stairs in the hallway,
coming down.
Harry quickly brought his wand back up and aimed at the
bottom of the stairs.
As soon as he saw someone he began to cast. "Stupe―
what?"
It was Remus who'd rounded the bottom of the steps.
He was looking back in shock. "Harry?"
"Remus!" said Harry, with a voice of urgency. "There's
someone in the house!"
Remus relaxed and chuckled. "There's a few 'someone's,
Harry."
That's when Hermione stepped next to Harry and looked
out, just as Harry stepped out, confused. She smiled and
said, "Hello, Professor Lupin!"
Remus looked to her with his customary smile and said,
"It's Remus, or Moony, remember?"
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Chapter 502
Having already lowered his wand, Harry said, "Then, I
think Hermione and I scared one of your guests." As
Hermione nodded back to Remus.
"Oh!" said Remus. "Yes; that was Patrick. He's one of the
guests here, at the moment."
Harry nodded as Remus gestured, "Come on. I'll introduce
you. They should be in the kitchen. Like you, apparently,
Dorothy loves to cook."
Following Remus, they were led down to the semibasement, which contained the kitchen. Then he led them
in through the door.
Before they even stepped in, they could smell the scent of
cooked bacon and eggs. Harry also thought he could
smell toast.
"Don't worry, folks," said Remus. "These are friends."
Holding the door open for Harry and Hermione to walk in,
they were greeted by three people already in the room.
"Steve, Dot, Pat, this is Harry Potter and Hermione
Granger," said Remus. "Harry, Hermione, this is Stephen,
Dorothy and Patrick Wilkins."
As greetings were exchanged between the five, Remus
said, "Steve and Dot have two others; Sarah and
Charlotte. However, they've not come down yet."
"Padfoot not up yet?" asked Harry.
"Nope," grinned Moony. "I should go wake him, though.
He'll want to know you're here."
"I urge the use of the Aguamenti charm," Harry grinned.
"Then, Glacias."
"Harry!" exclaimed Hermione, scandalised. "That's not
nice."
"Aguamenti?" asked Stephen.
"Shoots water out of the end of your wand," grinned
Remus. "Glacias then freezes it."
"Ah!" smiled Stephen. "That would get the blood
pumping."
Remus gave a nod and said, "I'll go wake him."
"Remus," sighed Harry. "Are you a wizard or not?"
"Ohhh-kay," said Remus, coming to a sudden stop. "I've
done something moronic, haven't I? You only use that
voice when you think someone's being an idiot."
"Does Sirius have house elves?" he asked right back.
"Yes, of course," replied Remus. Then, he got it. "Oh."
Taking a breath, he firmly called, "Chuckles!"
With a pop a house elf appeared, "Yes, Master Remmy?"
Remus looked down at the elf and said, "Please go wake
Sirius and let him know his godson and his betrothed are
here."
"Yes, Master Remmy," replied the elf before it popped
away again.
Looking back at Harry, he said, "In my defence, I don't
normally have house elves available."
"Chuckles?" asked Hermione.
Remus nodded and replied, "Sirius has three, believe it or
not. Giggles, Chuckles and Snickers."
Harry gave a snort and said, "Why am I not surprised?"
He grinned and replied, "Because you know what your
godfather is like?"
Harry chuckled and gave a nod.
"So," said Dot. "Lord Black - 'call me Sirius' - is as much
the comedian as we think he is?"
"Merlin, no!" said Harry, just beating out Remus.
"Comedian is too grand the term for Sirius. Pranker, prat,
plonker, public embarrassment, those I'll agree to."
"And my magical guardian," added Hermione.
Harry smirked, "A single ray of light within the darkness."
That earned a smile of those present.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Sirius was down about ten minutes later.
"Hermione!" he cried, moving to hug Hermione.
Releasing her, he looked at Harry and cried, "The other
one!" And glom-hugged him.
"Oh, God!" said Harry, from within Sirius's arms.
"No, no!" said Sirius, moving his godson out to arms
reach. "Sirius. Si-ri-us."
That had the Wilkins three snicker.
Harry just sighed and adopted a pained expression.
Sirius chuckled and said, "Everyone been introduced yet?"
Remus said, "Stephen, Dorothy and Patrick have been
introduced to Harry and Hermione; no sign of Sarah or
Charlotte, yet."
Sirius gave a nod and looked to Dorothy. "Dot. Would you
mind?" And flicked a hand towards the stairs.
She gave a nod and said, "Of course." Before then moving
to head up the stairs.
Once Dorothy left, Sirius plonked himself at the kitchen
table and gestured for Harry and Hermione to also sit. "So.
What news?"
Harry replied, "Did you know that Riddle has been
declared by experts in the DoM as gone for good?"
"I'd heard, yes," replied Sirius. "I meant more of a personal
nature. What's the news about you?"
"Oh," said Harry. "Well, everything went right, I think, for
the end of year exams. I suspect we won't get the results
until it's almost time to return to the school, though. I think
those years that'll be choosing electives and the like will
get theirs first."
Hermione cut in first and glumly replied, "I'm sure I didn't
do all that well. I know there were questions I could have
done much better at answering."
Harry rolled his eyes at Sirius and said, "You say that
every year and still always rank as one of the highest
scoring students of the year."
"Not this year, though," she sighed.
"We'll see," he smirked.
"And what about you, Pup?" asked Sirius. "With no
Dumbledore to worry about regarding any sudden
improvement in your results, how do you think you'll do?"
"I think I'll be giving Hermione a run for her money," he
grinned. "Oh, don't get me wrong; I don't think I'm going to
beat her; but, it'll be nice to be in the top scoring group."
"I'm pretty sure you're going to do it, too," Hermione
smiled back. "You studied and worked really hard; even
with the Tournament hanging over your head."
"We heard about that," said Patrick - or, Pat, as he inferred
he preferred to be called. "Apparently, you handled them
in such a way you made the organisers look like idiots."
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Chapter 503
Harry immediately recognised the accent now. It was
Australian. He was sure Hermione recognised it, too.
"I was only able to accomplish that, because they let a
non-lawyer write up the contracts and rules," said Harry.
"They were really poorly written."
"Sirius showed us," grinned Patrick, as his mother came
back in.
"They'll be down in a couple of minutes," she said.
Harry's belief Hermione also recognised the accent was
confirmed when she asked, "Australians?"
"Yep," grinned Patrick. "From Perth, Western Australia.
The most remote capital city in the world."
"I thought Canberra was the capital," said Hermione.
"The capital of the country, yes," he replied. "Perth's the
capital of the state. And good on ya, for recognising
Canberra to be the capital of the country. Most people
outside of Oz seem to think it's Sydney.
"As a matter of fact, Sydney's never been the capital.
Before Canberra it was Melbourne. Parliament met in
Victoria's Government House while Victoria's state
Parliament moved to the Exhibition Centre until the new
National Parliament House was planned and built in what
became known as Canberra. Back then, though, it was
nothing more than a settlement of farms and horse
breeding stations; not even a proper town.
"That was all decided by the time the results of the
national vote to create the country, Australia, was held in
1901. Before then we were, effectively, just a set of States
and a remote part of the Commonwealth of Britain."
Frowning, Hermione asked, "But, what about Botany
Bay?"
"Just a colony," smiled Patrick. "Never a capital."
Within ten minutes of being sent for two girls, one a few
years older than the other, came down and into the
kitchen. Both cast curious looks at Harry and Hermione,
before finding seats.
It was the youngest of the two that had Harry's 'Have we
met before?' mental antennae twitching. She looked so
familiar, but then... not.
The youngest, in an accent just confirmed to be
Australian, asked, "Good morning. What's for breakfast,
Mum?"
"Good morning, you two. Bacon and eggs on toast,"
replied Dot.
Harry perked up and asked, "Want a hand?"
"No, it's fine; I've got it," replied Dot.
Harry gave a sigh of disappointment.
Sirius grinned and said to Dot, "Harry's a bit of an amateur
cook, who―"
"Chef!" Harry declared, cutting in.
Sirius gave him a nod and said, "A bit of an amateur chef,
who does amazing things with food."
Dot gave Harry an appraising look before she said, "Then,
I'd love to see what you can come up with, some time. For
now, you're Sirius's guests."
Harry immediately thought, 'And you're not?'
Hermione asked him, "Didn't you cook, this morning?"
"No," he grumped. "That mini, spatula-wielding, joy-killing
Nazi wouldn't let me in my own kitchen."
Hermione burst into laughter.
"Nazi?" asked Stephen, sipping from a mug of coffee.
"Harry's personal house elf," replied Hermione, still
giggling. "He - Dobby, that is - and Harry have this sort
of... odd... relationship."
Sirius gave a snort and quietly said, "That's putting it
mildly."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Once those who had just started eating breakfast had
finished while the others engaged in small talk, Sirius gave
a nod and said, "Excellent. Time for me to do the proper
introductions."
When everyone looked to him he stood and said, "I'll start
with Harry and Hermione first. I introduce to you Lord
Harrison James Potter, wizard, Lord of the Noble and Most
Ancient House of Potter and Heir Tertiary of the Noble and
Most Ancient House of Black. He is considered One of the
Seven; that is, the head of one of the seven most
important families in magical Britain.
"Sitting next to him is Hermione Jean Granger, his
betrothed and witch, Lady Presumptive of the Noble and
Most Ancient House of Potter and magical ward of yours
truly, which makes her a daughter of the Noble and Most
Ancient House of Black.
"Next, Stephen Maxwell Wilkins, non-magical. Then
Dorothy Anne Wilkins, his wife, non-magical. Next, Patrick
Allen Wilkins, their son and oldest child, non-magical. And
Sarah Lee Wilkins, their daughter and middle child, nonmagical."
Harry now had the family, less one, of the five names
Remus had him add to the wards at Pottermore the
previous day, though he'd already figured that out earlier.
Sirius had just confirmed it.
"Which brings us to why they're here. Finally, Charlotte
'Charlie' Claire Wilkins, their youngest and adopted, witch.
However, CeeCee... as she prefers to be called... was
actually born... Corina Cephei Malfoy to Lucius Abraxas
Malfoy and Narcissa Venus Malfoy née Black, on the tenth
of August, 1982."
Both Harry and Hermione sat staring at the girl in shock.
Harry finally blurted, "Bloody Hell!"
Remus snickered.
Charlotte/Corina blushed a little and looked to her empty
plate.
"Sorry," said Harry. "I apologise."
"Harry," said Hermione. "With Lucius and Draco―"
"That's why I went to Perth and contacted the Wilkinses,
Hermione," said Sirius, smoothly interjecting. "CeeCee is,
by primogenitor, the lawful inheritor of the Malfoy fortune."
Harry suddenly sat up straight and asked, "Do cousins
Narcissa and Andromeda know?"
"Andi does," he immediately replied. "Within about two
minutes of Ted going home after I finally gave him
permission to tell her of CeeCee's existence, she was out
of the floo here and demanding to meet her."
Harry grinned and said, "She scared the crap out of you,
didn't she."
"Damn right, she did," he grinned back.
That had Sirius and Harry chuckling at one another.
Hermione gave a slight huff of mild irritation and said, "I
don't know why you two think that lovely lady is a threat.
She's nice."
Both looked back at her as if she'd suddenly turned into an
alien.
"Really!" she huffed.
"I thought she was nice, too," offered CeeCee.
Harry asked, "Did she head straight for you while silently
casting charms and what not?"
"Umm... Yes?" she replied.
"Did she then demand to drag you off somewhere private
and give you a full magical physical?" he asked.
"Nooo..." she replied.
"Then, you got off lightly," he declared.
He looked back to Sirius and asked, "What have you told
the Wilkinses about the political situation here?"
"Quite a bit," he replied.
"And, of what it means if... no, when... her bloodline
becomes known?" Harry pressed.
"Also, quite a bit," replied Sirius.
Harry sat back and thought for a moment.
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Chapter 504
He was broken out of those thoughts when Stephen said,
"Sirius has brought us up-to-date on what's been
happening of late, here in Britain. Especially, regarding
this... Voddlemort character."
"Voldemort," Hermione softly, almost unconsciously,
muttered. No one but Harry, sitting right next to her, heard.
Harry thought more and asked Sirius, "Can I give my view
and opinion?"
Sirius let his eyes sweep the Wilkinses before he gave a
nod.
"Mmm," said Harry. "First. The one known as Voldemort...
the Dark Lord... whatever - whose true birth name was
Tom Marvolo Riddle, by the way - is definitely dead. He
definitely died the same night Lucy and Drake died. The
Unspeakables made sure of that.
"However, his followers - with the exception of Lucy,
Draco, Peter Pettigrew and Walden MacNair - are still
alive. The only ones that won't cause problems are those
in Azkaban; the LeStranges, Crouch Junior, Dolohov,
Rookwood, et al.
"Of those still out and about, the troublesome ones will be
Parkinson, Nott, Mulciber and Yaxley. They're the ones
who're going to have to be the most closely watched.
Once they accept Riddle is truly dead, they're going to act
up, I'm sure. Parkinson and Nott, especially, are going to
make a play to become the new leader of the Death
Eaters. Once that leader is established, they're probably
going to want to go back to their old ways.
"Now, Malfoy... Lucy... was the established leader of those
mongrels until his fall from grace when I brought
everything to light at the First Task. Since then, I've no
doubt he was trying to find ways to get back to that
leading position. So, there'll have been plenty of infighting. There'll be plenty of in-fighting again, once they
accept Riddle's dead.
"So, we've... you, Sirius... have time to get things
prepared. You can get way ahead of this, before the dark
become a problem again. But, it's going to need you to act
fast and decisively.
"Charl- Corin- CeeCee?" he asked, looking to the girl; who
smiled and nodded back. "CeeCee... is the rightful
inheritor of the Malfoy fortune. But, that also means the
contents of Lucy's Will needs to be known before plans
can be made to challenge it, if necessary; which it
probably will require.
"If you hold off making the existence of CeeCee public
until the day of the Will reading, then no moves will have
been made by the dark to block her challenge. However,
her existence will have to become known if you challenge
the Will."
Turning to look at her, he firmly said, "And, I do hope you
do challenge that Will. The more gold kept out of the
hands of the Dark, the better."
Looking back at Sirius, he continued. "Your main problem
is cousin Narcissa. As CeeCee's birth mother, she
automatically has claim to her. To counter that, you need
to get Ted to prepare counter-claims to any claim Narcissa
has to become the guardian of her. I suggest you start
with child abandonment.
"Her counter to your counter will be it was Lucy who
abandoned CeeCee. And that he did it against her,
Narcissa's, desire and wishes.
"So. Sirius. I think you're going to need to invoke
paterfamilias on Narcissa and claim magical guardianship
of CeeCee before Narcissa, or anyone else of the Dark - if
it's in Lucy's Will - can take it for themselves. I think,
because of the now defunct Betrothal Agreement between
Pansy Parkinson and Draco, Parkinson will try to use that
to muscle in a claim; if not for her, then the fortune."
Sirius smirked back and said, "Very goood, Harry. I've got
Ted working on that, as we speak. Now, what's next?"
Harry thought and muttered, "Protecting CeeCee from
political and legal shenanigans..."
He looked to the Wilkinses, as a whole, before turning
back to Sirius. "How much have you told these good folk
about the relationship between myself, Hermione, Daphne
and Fleur? And, why it exists?"
"Not much," replied Sirius. "That's private House business
of the House of Potter."
Harry nodded and said, "And what about the pressure that
could be brought to bear, regarding bloodlines, with
CeeCee now being the only Heir of the Magical House of
Malfoy?"
Sirius looked surprised and then quietly muttered,
"Shhhit!"
"Sirius!" muttered a scandalised Hermione.
Sirius just flicked her a look and Hermione blushed and
looked away. "Sorry," she muttered.
Harry gave a nod and said, "So, I take it you've not
explained that?"
"No," he quietly said.
"They need to know. How about I ask Daphne to come
over? Her, being here, might alleviate any concerns before
they have a chance to become an issue."
"This sounds important," said Stephen. "I think we should
know, yes?"
Surprised, Sirius glanced to the Wilkinses before he
looked back at Harry and said, "If you wouldn't mind?"
"Not at all," said Harry. "She knows the password for the
floo and is keyed into the wards?"
"Yes," he nodded.
Rising, Harry said, "I'll be back in a couple minutes."
After he left, Stephen demanded, "What is he talking
about?"
"The bloodlines of the recognised Houses of wizarding
Britain," replied Sirius. "And to what lengths our society
goes to protect them."
"And, how does this apply to Charlie?" he demanded.
"CeeCee, as of a few days ago and as I explained,
became the Head of the Magical House of Malfoy. Her...
biological mother... Narcissa, has now become Dowager
Malfoy and not the rightful Head of House. That's because
CeeCee is of the Malfoy bloodline, while Narcissa is not.
"As CeeCee is now the only true Malfoy, moves will be
made within the higher echelons of our society to bring
pressure to bear for her to continue the Malfoy line. This is
normal for wizarding society. And that includes wizarding
society in Australia - I had Ted check."
Harry came almost running in a moment later and asked,
"Sirius. Can I ask for Samuel to come over, as well? As a
father who was in this sort-of same predicament―"
"Good idea," said Sirius. "He, too, is already keyed into
the wards. Ask him to come over, would you, Pup?"
Harry gave a nod and said, "Will do!" Before hurrying out
of the room again.
"Who's Samuel?" asked Dorothy.
"Umm―" said Sirius.
"The father of Daphne," said Hermione. "He's a Lord of a
Noble and Ancient House. That puts him one step down
from Sirius and Harry.
"However, the important thing here is... he's the father of
two witches; no sons."
"And I'm the father of one witch," nodded Stephen. "But, I
do not consider that to be a predicament."
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Chapter 505
"It's not," said Hermione. "However, CeeCee having no
brother's of blood... With Draco dead that now puts the
onus on CeeCee to continue the line... biologically."
Stephen, finally understanding, began to lose his temper.
"I will not allow my daughter to... to―"
Sirius cut in and said, "That's what we need to put in place
to stop from happening. The 'how' is why Harry's gone to
contact Daphne and her father.
"And, I'm sorry I didn't think of it, myself. Harry, however,
has this ability where he sees many steps ahead and
picks out problems that are likely to arise ahead of time.
And knows what steps to take to block it from happening."
Dorothy was shaking and quickly moved to hug her
youngest. CeeCee, it appeared, had some idea of what
they were talking about, but not a lot; Patrick and Sarah,
however, did. Both were also shocked.
Harry came in a few seconds later and said, "We're going
to quickly run out of room, in here. The Greengrasses are
in the formal dining room. Adeline demanded to come, too;
and they've brought Astoria with them.
Sirius gave a nod and started to rise. "Let's head up to the
formal dining room, folks."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Once everyone headed upstairs to the ground floor,
introductions were again made.
Sirius looked to Harry and said, "This started with you,
Pup. How about you introduce who Daphne is to you."
Harry gave Sirius a look and snarked, "Oh, gee; thanks,
Padfoot."
With a sigh he turned to the Wilkinses. "As you are
already aware, Hermione is my betrothed. She is a
muggleborn; what I believe Australian magicals call a
nomag-born, yes?"
CeeCee replied, "Yes. It's what everyone, back home,
thinks I am."
Harry gave her a nod and smiled, "Thank you, CeeCee."
Then he said, "This is the part where you're going to freak
out a little. I ask that you please don't do that, until the
'why' can be explained to you."
When the Wilkinses nodded back he indicated Daphne
and said, "This is, formally, Heiress Presumptive Daphne
Ophelia Greengrass of the Noble and Ancient House of
Greengrass. She is Lord Samuel's and Lady Adeline's
oldest.
"Through agreement between the Noble and Ancient
House of Greengrass and the Noble and Most Ancient
House of Potter, she is also my concubine."
The Wilkinses all looked back in stunned shock.
Continuing, he explained, "We entered into this agreement
to protect both Daphne and the Noble and Ancient House
of Greengrass from external pressure brought to bear on
Samuel for him to enter Daphne into a Concubine Bond
Agreement with... unsavoury... elements of magical
society.
"These are the same elements that will, once CeeCee's
existence and true ancestry becomes known, be brought
to bear on her magical guardian... and you."
Daphne, stepped forward and said, "Mister Wilkins."
When Stephen, who looked to be on the verge of
exploding in anger, looked to her she explained,
"Concubinage is not frowned upon in our society, as I'm
led to believe it is in your world. It has to do with protecting
the bloodlines from disappearing.
"With Harry's... help... I'll be able to continue the line of the
Noble and Ancient House of Greengrass. That is a big
thing. When it comes time for me to bear children, any
child I birth will carry the name Greengrass and the oldest
male will inherit the Lordship of Greengrass from my
father, in due course."
Hermione added, "As Harry's betrothed, once we marry, I
will become the Lady Potter. I will bear the children that
will carry on the name of Potter. As concubine, Daphne is
unable to do that. Even if she births the first child between
us, they will be unable to inherit. In that way, the line of
Potter is also protected."
"The important issue, though, is the Concubine Bond
Agreement," said Harry, before he turned to Samuel.
"Samuel; do I have your permission to speak to them
about what is written in the agreement?"
Samuel smiled back and began to reach into his robes. "I'll
do you one better. Do I have your permission to show
them the actual written agreement? I brought it with me."
Harry gave a sigh of relief and nodded. "Yes. It'll make
things a lot easier for them to understand. Thank you."
Samuel handed the document off to Stephen and said,
"Thankfully, Ted Tonks is not one for flowery legalese. This
is the agreement between our two houses. Please, read it
and ask your questions. I'm sure you'll have many."
Stephen glared back for a few moments as his wife came
to stand behind him and read over his shoulder.
As they did, Harry smiled to CeeCee and said, "Please
trust me. It's nowhere near as bad as you're probably
thinking. Your parents will be able to assure you of that in
few minutes, once they've finished reading."
CeeCee gave a worried smile back and nodded.
Watching the adult Wilkinses, it was easy to see when
they got to the important parts. Both gave sighs and slight
shoulder slumps of relief.
After they finished it, Stephen calmly handed it back and
said, "It's all about protection."
"Yes," Samuel immediately returned.
"It's to protect your daughter and give her time to find
someone else, if she preferred it."
"Yes," nodded Samuel. "However, apparently, she's made
her choice."
When eyes turned to her, Daphne smiled and said, "With
Hermione's already-given permission, plus Harry's, I've
decided to progress the agreement to a contract. Harry will
father the next Greengrass Heir; and probably a couple
more after that. However, that will not be for quite some
time."
When the Wilkinses' eyes turned to Hermione, she smiled
and nodded back.
"You're a nomag-born," said Stephen. "How did you get
roped into this? How did your parents agree to this?"
"Because, it's been explained to them over time," she
replied. "They had what you, apparently, likely don't have;
time to absorb the information and understand the 'what',
'why' and 'how'."
"Your... betrothal," said Dorothy. "Is it like this?"
"Similar escape clauses, yes," replied Hermione. "Believe
it or not; it was my parents who started the ball rolling with
Harry and Sirius. Apparently, Mum listened to what I've
been telling her over the past four years about the
wizarding world and took the idea to Sirius and Harry.
"Again, her idea was promoted as a way of protecting me
from harm within the wizarding world. That Harry and I
loved each other... was, as far as she was concerned, just
icing on the cake."
Harry said, "I can see, now, that she somewhat
manipulated me into it. She had Wendell, Hermione's
father, convinced it was the right thing to do. And then
Wendell played on how I'd do anything to protect
Hermione from harm, if it was within my power."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Chapter 506
"But, you'd have still done it anyway, right?" asked
Hermione.
"Yes," he replied. "Because Sirius was right when he said
that at my level, betrothal contracts were considered
mandatory."
"Then, no harm, no foul," she said.
Harry gave a snort of amusement.
"How does one of these protect my daughter?" pressed
Stephen, trying to get things back on, what he considered,
track.
Samuel was first to respond. "Any young witch already
entered into a relationship agreement is automatically
'hands off' to everyone else. If young Corina is already―"
"CeeCee," CeeCee interrupted.
"CeeCee," said Samuel, giving her a nod. "If young
CeeCee is already in an agreement, no one else is
allowed to interfere. Plus, what's written in the agreement
is also confidential information; and no one else, other
than those involved, can legally demand to know what it
contains.
"As such, as far as anyone else is concerned, such an
agreement could be unbreakable; with severe magical
penalties on anyone who tries. No one is going to want to
'test' that by trying to interfere.
"You were only able to read the one between myself and
Lord Potter, because we both gave you permission to read
it. Without both of us giving that permission, you'd not
have been able to. The magic of the contract would have
prevented you."
That had Harry wondering how it was that Jean-Paul was
able to read it. He suspected the French Unspeakables
played a role in that.
"As for the specifics," continued Samuel, "CeeCee's
magical guardian is the one who would enter into the
contract on her behalf. I'm sorry to say, but it's important;
you, being non-magical, have no magical say in it... even
though muggle law in Australia recognises you and
Dorothy as her guardians."
"I don't like the idea that some boy will be able to―" he
tried, but couldn't finish.
"That's where the young man needs to be carefully
selected," sighed Sirius. "I'd have immediately
recommended Harry, but, he really can't."
"Neville could," said Hermione.
"Yes," nodded Sirius. "However, he already has Miss
Abbott in betrothal and Heiress Bones in concubinage."
"Justin," Harry suddenly said.
"Alright," said Stephen, "Who are these people. I don't
know any of them."
Hermione replied, "'Neville' is Neville Francis Longbottom,
Heir Apparent of the Noble and Most Ancient House of
Longbottom; 'Miss Abbott' is Hannah Abbott of the Ancient
House of Abbott and 'Heiress Bones' is Susan Bones of
the Noble and Ancient House of Bones. Susan is the niece
and magical ward of the Director of the Department of
Magical Law Enforcement, Madam Amelia Bones."
"And Justin is, effectively, Lord Justin Finch-Fletchley,
Head of the Noble and Magical House of Finch-Fletchley,"
Harry smoothly added. "He's, as you would understand it,
nomag-born. However, in the muggle world he's also Lord
Justin Finch-Fletchley, Viscount of Lonsdale, Heir Primary
of the Earl of Bedford, his father, and Heir Secondary of
the Duke of Kendal, his paternal grandfather. That means
he's of royal blood and related, through his paternal
grandfather, to Her Majesty, Elizabeth the Second. Queen
of... in your case... Australia."
That had the Wilkinses stunned silent again. It was a while
before one of them, Sarah in this case, softly muttered,
"Wow!"
"Indeed," nodded Harry. "Now, Justin's a good kid. He has
a strong sense of 'Noblesse Oblige'; that is, the
responsibility of the nobles to care for the common folk.
That is reflected in how he was sorted into Hufflepuff in
Hogwarts, our premier magical school. Hufflepuff is the
house of the loyal and hard-working.
"Before he found out he was a wizard he was due to go to
Eton, as his father and his grandfather did before him. It
also goes a long way to his character that there were very
few people in Hogwarts who knew that Justin is of royal
blood until very recently. He kept it secret for almost four
years.
"Now, the Potter-Longbottom Alliance - that's the alliance
which I and Neville's father currently lead and of which the
House of Greengrass is a member - recently aided young
Justin... and, through him, his father and grandfather... in
being recognised as the Head of the newly created Noble
and Magical House of Finch-Fletchley. When he is of-age
once he turns seventeen, Justin will ascend to take his
rightful seat in our magical parliament, known as the
Wizengamot. His magical guardian until recently was his
school Head of House, Professor Pomona Sprout. That
recently changed to our current Headmistress,
Headmistress Lady Griselda Marchbanks. As well as
magical guardianship for him she sits as his Proxy upon
the Wizengamot. Sirius, Samuel and I already sit our own
seats there.
"As for Justin himself, with the support of his father and
grandfather, moves are already being made to protect him
through a Betrothal Agreement. I... cannot tell you who
that is with - not until it's finalised - but it's with the
daughter of one of our Ancient Houses. However, his
muggle... nomag... family have also been educated in
these matters and are supportive.
"He's a good kid. Fifteen years old and a true gentleman.
If we can convince his relatives to allow him to enter into a
concubinage arrangement with CeeCee, he'll protect her
with everything he has and is. Because he's also a
member of the Potter-Longbottom Alliance, the alliance
can and will also support and protect her with the full
weight of the law and the powers we wield.
"Anyway," he sighed. "I'm now rambling. Any questions we
can answer for you, here and now?"
Sirius gave a snort of amusement and said, "I think we
need to let them think all that through."
"Sirius?" asked Harry. "When's the Will reading for dear
old Lucy?"
"Tomorrow," replied Sirius. "10.00am"
Harry winced. "Shhhyte!"
Harry sat there, slouched back and with his eyes closed
and had thoughts flying through his mind. He didn't even
hear some of the questions being asked by the Wilkinses.
Others answered them.
Finally, he opened them and gave a grunt.
Clearly, others were waiting for him.
He turned his attention to Sirius. "Lord Black. The PotterLongbottom Alliance offers the Noble and Most Ancient
House of Black aid in this matter. Will you accept?"
"We will," Sirius instantly replied.
With a slight nod, Harry turned to Samuel. "Lord
Greengrass; how quickly do you think we can get the
Ancient Houses of the Alliance together for an emergency
meeting?"
A little surprised, Samuel was still quick to think it through.
"That would depend on where you'd want to get them to
meet, Lord Potter."
"Pottermore," replied Harry. "It won't take me long to
adjust the wards and there's a great deal more room there
than here. Can we get them together for... say... 1.00pm
today?"
Surprised, Samuel said, "That would be pushing it. If
they're home and not otherwise planning on being
somewhere else... I'd say it's doable. Oh; except for the
Delacours. As a Venerable House they're a French version
of a Noble and Ancient House."
Harry gave a nod back and turned to Hermione. "I think
Stephen and Dorothy would like to at least speak to the
parents of a muggleborn to get their take on these sort of
things. Do you know what your parents are up to, today?"
"Just a day at home, Harry," she replied. "I think they'd
love to visit Pottermore again."
Stephen piped up and said, "If they're nomags like us, I
think Dorothy and I would appreciate that."
Hermione said, "They are. They're dental surgeons in the
muggle world. We live in Wimbledon."
Harry nodded, "Good. Now, let's see if we can get some
notes sent out via HEED."
"HEED?" asked Sirius.
"House Elf Express Delivery," said Hermione. "Harry's
suggesting notes be taken to the other senior members of
the Alliance via house elf. Instant delivery."
Samuel looked surprised, "I wonder why none of us
thought of that."
Harry called, "Dobby."
When the little elf popped in, Harry said, "Dobs; I need
parchment, quills and ink. Do you mind getting some for
me?"
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Chapter 507
"Not at all, Master Harry," said Dobby, before he popped
away again. He was back moments later and the required
writing material was on the dining room table.
"Thank you. Now, I have another job for you," he said.
"We're having an emergency meeting of the senior
Houses of the Alliance at Pottermore. We're planning for
people to show up shortly before 1.00pm. Can you alert
Jeeves and the others, so they can prepare?"
"Of course, Master Harry," said Dobby, popping away
again.
Looking to the Wilkinses he said, "Folks, I'm going to need
CeeCee's true full name, if you don't mind. It 's for the
wards on Pottermore."
"Corina Cephei Malfoy," said Sirius, before he spelt it.
"Thank you," said Harry, ripping the sheet with the written
name off, folding it and sticking it in his pocket. "As soon
as I get back I'll add it to the wards."
Patrick, who'd been quiet for most of this, finally had
enough and said, "You've still not explained how this...
concubine agreement... protects my little sister."
Samuel looked over, thought a moment, and replied, "It's
simple. Anyone under one of these sort of agreements is
automatically protected from being forced into another.
Further, they fall under the protection of the senior of the
two Houses involved. With Finch-Fletchley being an
existing Noble House, she would fall under the protection
of that House.
"By entering CeeCee into an agreement of this form her
mother... or whoever else may be given magical
guardianship of her at a later date... cannot then place her
under one of their choosing. One that will not be as...
pleasant... for CeeCee.
"Young Justin is a gentleman. He will not take advantage
of your sister. The same could not be said for whomever
the magical guardian, if not Sirius, would choose.
"Then, a few years from now, one or the other will enact
the escape clauses in the agreement that will free them
from it. If nothing else, it can remain in effect until CeeCee
turns seventeen. At that time, she will no longer require a
magical guardian under our laws; and will be free to seek
her own choice of relationship with whomever she desires.
"As odd as it sounds, this concept of using a concubinage
agreement - with, for example, young Justin - is all about
giving CeeCee free choice. It's all about stopping
someone, who does not wish your sister the best, making
life changing decisions about her."
"We should have stayed in Perth," grumped Stephen.
"Wouldn't have worked," said Harry. "If, as I suspect,
someone tries to claim the line of Malfoy has ended once
the Will is read, the goblins will immediately inform them it
has not.
"Once that happens, there'd be a major hunt for the
missing Malfoy heir. There'll be those who'll be looking to
grab her for nefarious purposes; those who'll try to find her
to simply inform her of her inheritance, you can include the
goblins in that; and those who will want her to simply
disappear, so they can make their own play for the Malfoy
fortune.
"My first idea was for Sirius to simply seize the fortune
under paterfamilias laws; as, by right of simply claiming
Narcissa a daughter of the House of Black, he can also
claim the entirety of the fortune. However, I realised that
wouldn't work when I realised the goblins will announce a
living Malfoy heir."
Sirius groaned, sighed and said, "He's right. They will."
"Why would they do that?" demanded Stephen.
Sirius replied, "Because the Gringotts account manager of
the Malfoy estate will not want to lose control of it to the
account manager of the Black estate; which he would, if
no Malfoy heir was known.
"It's also why the Malfoy account manager did not destroy
CeeCee's lifestone the bank holds, even though Lucius
demanded it be so. They knew they would need it to find
the missing Malfoy heir, CeeCee, if both Lucius and Draco
died before another Malfoy heir was born; again, as has
happened."
Samuel added, "Once it's known a Malfoy heir lives, it
would only be a matter of time before she'd be found. No
one has looked for her before now - except Sirius -
because no else knew she even existed. That's known as
security through obscurity. However, the Will reading
would negate the obscurity. By presenting her at the Will
reading, Sirius and you maintain some level of control
over what happens."
Meanwhile, Harry was quick to write a 'form' letter to the
other senior members of the alliance. Once he was done,
he used the Gemino charm to copy it out a further seven
times.
Then he added the address block to the top of each for
each of the senior Houses, bar Potter and Greengrass.
And added a postscript to the one for Longbottom.
Once done, he looked up and asked, "Lord Greengrass?"
And gestured to the notes.
Samuel was quick to pick one up and read through it.
When he was done, he gave a nod and said, "Sufficient
urgency and importance to convey the message, without
giving away any information that's sensitive.
"However, I notice you included one for Delacour."
Harry nodded and said, "Yes. I'm going to try calling
someone I think will be able to help getting them there on
time; if he's both listening and willing to help."
When Samuel looked confused, Harry grinned back, stood
and moved away from the table a little.
Centring himself and his thoughts, he raised his off-hand
forearm and firmly, pleadingly, called, "Fawkes!"
A few of the magicals, including Hermione, gave a gasp of
surprise.
When nothing happened for a few seconds he was about
to sigh in disappointment when Fawkes flamed into the
room, in flight, above the table.
As there were quite a few exclamations of shock, including
from the Wilkinses, Fawkes circled the room, singing a
joyous tune.
He made two laps before he flew down and perched on
Harry's arm. Harry was quite surprised by how light he felt;
expecting about four to five pounds of weight, at least,
instead of the half a pound he felt.
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Chapter 508
"Hiya, Fawkes," he said, as Hermione was explaining who
Fawkes was.
Once the bird had settled, Harry explained to him what he
was asking the phoenix to do.
"Can you do that for us, Fawkes?" he asked.
Fawkes gave a short couple of head bobs back.
Wondering what to do with the immortal bird while he
wrote, Harry had the decision taken out of his hands by
the bird himself. Fawkes took off from his arm and gently
glided over to land on CeeCee's shoulder.
CeeCee, sat perfectly still in not a little fear but quite a bit
of shock as Fawkes settled down. Once he was settled he
bent his head forward, turned to look at CeeCee's face
and softly warbled something.
CeeCee lost her fear and had an expression of awe and
surprise as she and Fawkes stared at one another.
"Hunh!" said Harry, before he shook his own surprise clear
and quickly moved to write an amendment to the note he'd
be sending Jean-Paul Delacour.
"Harry," said Hermione. "How did you manage to call
Fawkes?"
"You saw how, Hermione," he distractedly replied,
checking over his note.
Once it was done, he looked to Fawkes, grinned and
asked, "Alright, Fawkes. If you wouldn't mind?" And held
the note aloft.
Fawkes let forth a trill of affirmative, launched off
CeeCee's shoulder, flew across, snatched the note out of
Harry's hand with his beak and immediately flamed away.
"Bloody Hell, Pup!" exclaimed Sirius. "That was... That
was damned cool!"
"Fawkes is delivering a message to Jean-Paul," he
explained. "In the note I also asked him to call Fawkes
when he and his were ready to be phoenix-flamed to
Pottermore just before 1.00pm - 2.00pm, their time. That
is, of course, if he can come.
"Now for the rest of these notes," he continued. Firmly, he
called, "Dobby, Betsy, Willy, Pinty, Tally and... Raggy!"
When all six elves popped in, he handed them one note
each and gave them the identity of who to deliver them to.
As each took 'their' note, they popped away again. Raggy,
as expected, went to Justin.
"Sirius," he looked to his godfather. "Can I borrow your
three to deliver the last three messages?"
Sirius gave a nod and called, "Giggles, Chuckles and
Snickers!"
The three Black elves each received a note and to whom
to deliver them before popping away.
"Right," said Harry. "The call to assemble has been sent
out. Now, we just need to wait for replies."
Stephen asked, "Young man, why are you doing this? You
barely even know us."
He tried to explain, "Hermione thinks I have this 'saving
people thing'―"
"You do," she immediately cut in.
"... and, when I see a problem that means someone's in
trouble, I try to help," he completed. "This is a problem that
has an urgent need to be solved. As it specifically applies
to an innocent young lady - in this case, CeeCee - my
inner Gryffindor comes out and I just have to fix it."
Sirius added, "Harry has a knight in shining armour
complex. When he acts, he tends to save lives."
Looking to Harry he grinned and asked, "How many lives
have you saved before now, Pup?"
"Directly?" asked Harry. "Ummm... not sure; but, I saved
Hermione from that troll in October 1991, Ginny Weasley
from possession by a malignant spirit in June 1993, Sirius
from the dementors, twice, in June last year and Fleur
Delacour from drowning in February this year. But, to be
fair, Sirius saved me, Hermione, Ron Weasley and Potions
Master Severus Snape from being attacked by a werewolf
less than an hour before the first time I saved Sirius."
Hermione added, "All the staff and students of Hogwarts in
June 1993, too, Harry. That basilisk, once Riddle became
mortal again, would have likely been released into the
public areas of the school. It likely would have killed
almost all of them... us."
"That was a side-effect, Hermione," he said. "Not directly.
And he might not have done that. As such, I didn't count
it."
"Bloody Hell," said Stephen. "I can now see why people,
here, are deferring to you."
"It's also because I'm, like Sirius, the Lord of a Noble and
Most Ancient House, one of the seven most powerful
families in wizarding Britain," he replied. "And, because I
co-Head what's probably the most powerful political
alliance in the country; the same alliance I've just called to
assemble to help."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 509
After getting things finalised before the meeting at
Pottermore, Harry sent Hermione back to her parents to
ask them to attend the meeting. He believed it was the
right thing to do, to have the Wilkinses talk to her parents;
muggle parents of a muggleborn to nomag parents of a
supposedly nomag-born.
She was happy and excited to go. He was just glad it was
a Sunday and her parents would be home and not at
work.
It wasn't too long before messages began arriving back.
First, unsurprisingly, was Frank; he'd be coming with Alice,
Neville, Hannah and Susan. The girls were staying for the
day at Longbottom Hall. Next, was Amelia; who mentioned
Susan was at Longbottom Hall and expected to see her
there. Then the rest started coming in. Harry was happy to
see Miles Ogden would also be attending, along with his
wife, Hedda.
He was, however, unhappy to see that Augustus
MacMillan would be coming. He'd forgotten than Ernie
was also a 'single' Heir and feared moves to put forward
his name as the concubine holder for CeeCee would be
made. He immediately mentioned those fears to Samuel.
Samuel quietly replied, "If it happens, we'll deal with it.
But, let's not count our hippogriffs before they're hatched."
When Hermione didn't return after half an hour, he
suspected she'd be waiting to come to Pottermore with her
parents.
The surprise was the return of Fawkes, who came bearing
a note back from Jean-Paul. The Delacour four would all
be coming as, apparently, Fawkes was happy to bring
them all.
Even more surprising was, as soon as Fawkes dropped
the note pretty much into Harry's lap, he flew over and
landed on CeeCee's shoulder again. Then the two stared
at each other. CeeCee even giggled at one point.
Harry, thinking he knew what was going on, looked to
Sirius and gave a little head-tilt in CeeCee's direction
before cocking an eyebrow.
Sirius looked a little confused for a moment, before his
eyes widened in shock and he quickly spun to stare at the
unusual pair. When he looked back to Harry, Harry gave a
slight nod and shrugged.
Harry turned to look at the pair and called, "Fawkes?"
When both he and CeeCee turned to look at him, Harry
asked, "Fawkes, have you bonded with CeeCee?"
The resultant trill of joyous refrain, together with slightly
opened wings, was all the answer Harry needed.
Harry sighed and said, "Fawkes, you can't! CeeCee lives
in the muggle world."
The resultant short trill back, with the clear sounds of a
raspberry added at the end, had CeeCee laugh. She
explained, "He said, 'Mind your own business, nestling'. I
don't think I should add that last bit."
That had a few of the magicals, who didn't understand the
problems that were likely to arise from it, laugh. Harry was
one who didn't.
He sighed and quietly said, "Well, that's gonna set the
kneazles amongst the snitches."
Dorothy asked, "What does it mean?"
Harry replied, "Fawkes has just become CeeCee's
familiar; or, more properly, bonded companion. That
means, he'll now go where she goes, except for times
when he's out hunting or off doing something else.
"However, as a clearly magical bird, he represents
problems with maintaining the Statute of Secrecy. If he's
spotted by those non-magicals who are not allowed to be
in the know―"
Fawkes interrupted with a long trill that sounded a little
annoyed. CeeCee immediately translated. "He said,
'Across the centuries he's lived since the Statute was
implemented, he's never been responsible for a breach.
He will not be now'. And it sounded like he was annoyed
you thought he would be."
Harry flicked his hands up in a 'giving up' gesture and
said, "Sorry, Fawkes. I'm just seeing likely avenues where
problems may develop."
Short trill. "You're forgiven."
With another sigh, Harry moved to stand and said, "Well; I
need to get to Pottermore to set the ward permissions. I'll
see you folks there, when you get there."
Samuel added, "And, we'll head home for an early lunch
before meeting you there."
Daphne piped up, "Umm... Harry?"
Turning to her as he stood, he asked, "Wanna come
with?"
Her smile was all the answer he needed.
She turned to her father, about to ask, when he gently
smiled back and said, "Of course, she may. Just... stay out
of trouble."
Happily, she gave him a kiss to the cheek before joining
Harry.
Looking to the Wilkinses before they left, Harry said, "This
short time will give you time to hammer Sirius with
questions about us before you come over. I recommend
you use it. None of us will be offended." Then walked out
to the next room and its floo.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Back in Pottermore, Harry informed the elves via his major
domo, Willy, what was about to descend on Pottermore a
little before 1.00pm. Then turned to Daphne.
"You've not had a chance to see it yet, have you?" he
asked.
"No," she replied, with an almost imperceptible head
shake.
"Then, tour first," he replied, leading her out of the
welcoming parlour.
Once done, with her paying very close attention to the
bedrooms near the master suite, he led her down to the
kitchen.
"I think we need to think about how to set this meeting up,
furniture-wise," he said. "I could use your help with that."
As the two sat at the informal breakfast table, with Dobby
assisting Pinty got on to making lunch.
Well before the two teens had come up with a workable
plan, lunch appeared on the table before them. They ate
as they continued to plan. He was now even happier
Daphne had asked to join him, as he didn't think he'd have
figured it out without her.
They would not be sitting as they normally did for a
meeting of the Alliance. They'd quickly figured out that
would not work, here. Instead, they'd be going far more
informal with chairs brought into the main parlour and, as
it was large enough, they'd sit in a somewhat haphazard
circle with small tables used as side tables between
chairs.
This way, discussion would be more informal. And allow
for a better hearing of views. They'd also have snacks and
drinks available to anyone who wanted one.
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Chapter 510
Once they had a plan, Harry called Willy and had him set
something up in the room. Pinty, with help from Dobby,
prepared amuse-gueule - titbits of finger food - the guests
could nibble on while they talked. Daphne explained the
term to him, as he'd not heard it before. He always thought
it was hors d'oeuvres, but learned that meant an appetiser
between courses of a multi-course meal.
'Hunh! You learn something new every day,' he thought.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Hermione turned up with her parents, first. Harry expected
that. Then Sirius and Remus brought over the Wilkins five,
plus Ted and Andi Tonks. Ted and Andi had been called
back over to the Black Townhouse by Sirius before they
came. Nymphadora was on-shift with the aurors. Next was
the Delacours arriving via Fawkes.
As soon as he dropped them off, Fawkes flew over and
landed on CeeCee's shoulder, while Fleur almost ran at
Harry before laying a major hug and kisses on him.
"'Ello, my 'Arry!" she cried.
That had the Wilkinses look at them with varying looks of
surprise and confusion.
Hermione also saw it, smiled and said, "Harry saved
Fleur's life during the Second Task of the Tri-Wizard
Tournament."
Harry looked to Hermione and said, "Hermione-love; can
you introduce and explain Fleur to the Wilkinses? I have
more guests coming and I don't have time, right now."
She nodded and said, "Of course." Then escorted Fleur,
who really didn't want to stop hugging Harry, over to the
Wilkinses, taking the other Delacours with her.
Then the rest began to quickly start arriving in a somewhat
haphazard order: Miles and Hedda Ogden; Frank, Alice
and Neville Longbottom with Susan and Hannah; Griselda
Marchbanks; Heathcliff, Lydia, Edwin and Tracey Davis;
Eugene and Pauline Abbott; and, annoyingly, Augustus,
Esther, Cyril and Ernie MacMillan. Amelia Bones stepped
out of the floo with Justin Finch-Fletchley and a man Harry
thought he recognised from when Justin claimed his seat
in the Wizengamot.
Quickly checking names off a list in a small notebook with
a muggle pen he carried, Harry said, "Right. That's
everyone. If we can move this into the parlour we can
explain what the emergency and importance of this
meeting is."
As they walked into the next room, the parlour, Amelia was
quick to introduce Justin's father, the man who came with
them, to Harry. She'd HEEDed ahead to ask to add the
man's name to the wards, which Harry was happy - and
relieved - to do.
In the parlour, of the Alliance each person introduced
themselves. Then Harry asked Sirius to introduce his
'party'. Sirius used CeeCee's 'muggle' name. That was
planned in advance.
"Alright," sighed Harry. Standing from his chair and moving
forward a bit. "Here's the situation, which is why you've all
suddenly been called to an emergency meeting. For this, I
have offered the aid of the Alliance to the Noble and Most
Ancient House of Black. I know that was rather...
presumptuous... of me. However, I believe you'll support
me doing so, once you learn of why.
Indicating CeeCee, he said, "Sirius introduced you to
young Charlie, here. However, that is not her birth name;
she was adopted with no one, at the time, knowing her
true name. Through reasons I believe I'll let Ted explain,
which is one of the reasons why he's here, we now know
CeeCee's true birth name to be Corina Cephei Malfoy.
She is―"
That was as far as he got before the room exploded in
noise of shocked exclamations, both of anger and
disbelief.
Harry stood there for a moment and unconsciously
mimicked Amelia Bones, when he folded his wand arm
across his chest and used his offhand to massage the
bridge of his nose.
Fawkes started trilling a refrain of music meant to soothe.
But, it appeared it only soothed those of the Wilkinses and
Justin's father, who were sitting both sides and together.
Finally, Harry had had enough and said so. "ENOUGH!"
he shouted.
That had those few still yelling, quiet down.
Giving them quelling glares he turned to Justin's father
and the Wilkinses.
In a clear voice, heard by all, he said, "My Lord Earl of
Bedford, Wilkins family; you have my sincere apology that,
while guests in my home, you have been subjected to
such unseemly, uncultured behaviour by witches and
wizards who are supposed to be of high wizarding society
in this fair land. I trust you shall not be subjected to it
again."
When he turned back it was to see quite a few sheepish
faces, but also a couple of angry ones. However, none of
them verbally arced up again.
"Now," he said, "As I was saying... CeeCee's true birth
name is Corina Cephei Malfoy. She is the biological
daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. Law-Wizard Ted
Tonks assures me he has proof of that claim and will make
it available shortly."
Ted gave a firm nod and smiled.
"Of course, as you are no doubt aware, this makes her the
rightful Heir... Heiress... by primogenitor of the Magical
House of Malfoy and its estates. CeeCee is muggleraised... or, as they call it in Australia where she was
raised... nomag-raised. Until a few days ago, she had no
idea of her true heritage. Again, Ted will explain why.
"I have called this emergency meeting of the alliance, with
Lord Black's blessing, to provide her succour. No doubt
many of you will have already figured out why.
"The Will reading of Lucius Malfoy occurs at 10.00am
tomorrow morning. At that time, CeeCee's existence will
become public knowledge. I am... concerned... she will
then immediately be in danger from the darker elements of
our society. The vultures hoping to pick over what they
believe to be the carcass of the Malfoy estate will not be
happy once she comes forward.
"A House, though not of the Alliance, is in peril. We can
provide aid. What say you?"
Harry was surprised that Augustus MacMillan was the first
to speak.
"First, Lord Potter, you ask us to support you in elevating a
muggleborn to his... rightful... place on the Wizengamot,"
he near-scowled. "Now you bring us the Heiress of a
House considered dark and ask us to provide aid, yet
again. When is it going to stop?"
Harry gave a nod to show he understood where MacMillan
was coming from. Then he replied, "To the first point;
because the law, the very Charter of the Wizengamot, said
it must be so. To refuse was to go against the very Charter
by which our society formed as a society. We, the Noble
Houses, were obligated to see it through.
"To the second point; CeeCee is a twelve year old young
lady and nomag-raised. How could you consider her
Dark? Though born of Malfoy blood I invite you to take a
closer look at what's now sitting on her shoulder. Fawkes,
against even my urging, has decided to bond with her. I
sincerely believe Fawkes is now her bonded companion;
which opens up a whole can of different problems that'll
need to be addressed later. With CeeCee as the only
Malfoy by blood left, how can you say the Magical House
of Malfoy is still of the Dark? The paradigm has shifted."
MacMillan frowned in thought before he then said, "A valid
point. Two valid points."
Harry nodded and said, "How about we hear from Lawwizard Tonks as to how this came to pass, so we have a
better understanding of how to help her?
"Oh, yes!" he suddenly exclaimed and chuckled. "As
husband of Andromeda, CeeCee's aunt on her biological
mother's side, he's also her uncle."
When no one objected, Harry returned to his seat as Ted
stood.
Ted explained what led to him beginning the search for her
and some of the information they found. He also explained
how he received the final proof and then apologised -
again, apparently - to CeeCee for the slight injury to her
nose that gave them the blood to originally confirm
through the goblins she was who they believed her to be.
He also told everyone about the blood test which
confirmed it. And said they'd be going into the bank early
to do the test again; this time, live and in-person as
required under goblin law.
Then Sirius, being serious for a change, stood and
explained the main problem: someone trying to enter her
into a magically binding and enforced marriage or
concubine contract, utterly against her or her adopted
family's wishes. And protecting her against any effort to
either strip her of the estate or just flat out killing her.
Once the problem was explained, Harry knew he had their
support. He could see it on their faces.
"Alright," he said. "So the Wilkinses fully understand the
problem..." he turned to Justin and asked, "Justin; for the
purposes of informing the Wilkinses of what we consider
the problem, do you mind sharing with us how many
betrothal or concubinage contracts or agreements you
have received since your House was established a few
weeks ago? Please note: You don't have to if you don't
want to. This sort of information is considered House
business and not for anyone else to know who aren't
specifically involved, unless you want them to be."
Justin gave a slight frown before he turned to look at his
father. His father gave a slight shrug before Justin turned
to Marchbanks. "Headmistress Lady Marchbanks? I'll
allow it."
Marchbanks gave a nod back and said, "Between Heir
Finch-Fletchley's Hogwarts Head of House, Pomona
Sprout, and I, as his magical guardian and proxy on the
Wizengamot, he has received well over a dozen. Quite a
few of them were laced with illegal compulsion charms
and the like."
Bones cut in and added, "Which my office are currently
investigating and seeing the perpetrators charged, for
those that were illegally charmed."
Harry looked to his second male friend and said, "Thank
you, Justin. I believe the Wilkinses will find that both a little
shocking and informative."
Both Stephen and Dorothy were looking a little ill. Stephen
said, "Yes, thank you, errr... my Lord."
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein