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The Guile and Devotion of a Black Heir	By : StarLightMassacre Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 104291 -:- Recommendations : 9 -:- Currently Reading : 26
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Harry Potter; all rights go to J. K. Rowling. I make no money for this piece of fictional writing and never will.

Chapter List
- 11
- 12
- 13
Last Time
His gaze caught the new ring nestled on his left hand as he lifted the mug to his mouth and he smiled, going back to admiring it. He loved Rabastan and he couldn’t wait until they were married. He hated that the Ministry had ruined their last week together, especially as he and Rabastan had gotten engaged tonight, but it was too risky to have Rabastan come here and downright dangerous for him to go and sleep in the Lestrange manor with Rhadamanthus creeping about. Not that Lucius would have ever allowed him to sleep at Lestrange manor, despite him and Rabastan now being engaged and their wedding planned for the summer of nineteen-ninety-eight, it still wasn’t proper etiquette. Harry hated proper etiquette sometimes.
Chapter Twelve – Trials and Debates
Harry grinned at Draco as his brother and Blaise messed around in the compartment that they’d chosen. Lucius and Narcissa had come to see them off. The elder Malfoys had gotten the both of them settled into their compartment and then they’d gone again as soon as they were on the train with their trunks and both of their owl cages. Hedwig was on a letter delivery to Remus and Draco’s owl, Saracen, was flying to Hogwarts as he found it more comfortable.
Harry had been given several cards and a few presents by Lucius a few days earlier. His Father had extensively checked them all for any sort of harmful potions or spells before giving them to him, which was a good thing as he’d found a few subtly placed compulsion spells worked in to certain passages of text which, when read by him, would have urged him to do exactly as the passages had instructed. The compulsion spells had all been carefully removed before he’d even been allowed to hold them.
He’d already owled Remus back to thank him profusely for his amazing gift, a small portrait of a much younger Sirius, from before Azkaban, that he could actually talk to and get an answer from, to an extent at least. But he was just so thankful to be able to talk to Sirius again, to hear his voice, that he didn’t care if this version of Sirius had no clue what had happened in the Ministry or anything about the Order of the Phoenix, because as soon as he told the younger version of Sirius what had happened, he’d brushed it off and told him that the best way he could think of dying would be in the place of his friends or Prongs’ baby. Him. Talking to this hilarious, fun-loving Sirius helped to draw out the awful, festering guilt that he was carrying around. It helped him let go of Sirius, even as he talked and joked around with this new one.
Harry had also gotten a tin of fudge from Hagrid and he planned to go and have a talk with him once he was settled back in his private rooms as the half-giant had told him in his letter that he had missed him and his visits last term. As for Ron and Hermione’s written apologies, well, they weren’t fit to wipe his arse with if he was honest. Hermione’s was marginally more sincere than Ron’s, but he assumed that her parents had had a hand in that, what with the incredibly hefty bills they would have received during the first week of the New Year. He assumed that they were trying to get back into his good graces in order to convince him to pay the bill himself or to convince his Father to pick it up instead of themselves. He knew that the two sixths of the bill that had been sent to the Weasleys would have crippled them, but he wiped away those thoughts of guilt and remorse. They had turned on him, they had all turned on him and they’d attacked him without provocation. They’d all brought it on themselves. He had nothing to be guilty for, he had no reason to be remorseful about billing them for his damaged belongings.
“What’s that?!”
Harry looked up, slightly startled at the sudden, loud noise, to see that Pansy, Millicent and Daphne had arrived in their compartment. Astoria had also arrived and she was sat primly next to Draco, as was her right as his betrothed. Harry was very pleased to note that their hands were entwined together. Draco had already told him that his afternoon with her had gone really well now that he actually knew how to talk to her properly instead of taking her shy silence as disinterest.
“What’s what?” Blaise asked, looking in bemusement at Pansy, who’d made the alarming outburst.
“That!” Pansy pointed to Harry’s hand, and to the stunning, gleaming ring nestled on his finger.
“It’s my engagement ring.” Harry drawled slowly. He was definitely learning the Malfoy family mannerisms.
“Oh, you and Rabastan got engaged?” Astoria said happily. “May I see?”
Harry held out his hand and Astoria’s tinier one took his and looked the ring over.
“It’s so beautiful!” She gushed. “Those diamonds are amazing, very beautifully cut, and the contrast of the blue with the silver is stunning, or is it platinum? It certainly seems whiter than silver.”
“It’s platinum. Platinum and blue tungsten. We got engaged on New Year’s night.” Harry said. “He took me on a dinner date to The Garnet Swan or something. I really wasn’t expecting it. I thought he’d propose in the summer.”
“Let me see!” Pansy demanded as she snatched his hand and looked at his ring critically. Harry watched her face and he could almost see that she was pricing it up in her head.
She huffed and sat down again. Harry assumed that she could find no fault with the ring, or with how much it had obviously costed, and it made him very smug.
“For the sake of the Mudbloods…” Draco trailed off as Harry glared so hard at him he could almost feel the heat of it. Draco sighed. “For the sake of the other students who aren’t in our superior circle, Harry is engaged to a witch from France. We’ve been ordered not to reveal his true Fiancé to anyone.”
“Why a witch when you’re obviously gay and have bearer genes?” Blaise asked confused.
“Because it’s safer for me and Rabastan if people didn’t know about that particular ability of mine. The Healers aren’t able to reveal anything confidential about me or my medical records as per their oath and the only other copy of the record is locked in my Father’s study.” Harry sighed. “It’ll keep people as far away from thinking of Rabastan as possible if they think that I’m straight and engaged to a foreign witch.”
“What is this foreign witch’s name?” Millicent asked. “I’ll drop it in conversation.”
“Aceline and she’s from Nantes. It’s too dangerous to link her to an actual Pureblood family though, so don’t bring up last names.” Harry warned.
“Make it a lesser Pureblood family.” Pansy said. “With you being a Lord of two houses and incredibly wealthy, it would be suspicious if your bride was also from an incredibly wealthy and influential family. It won’t be noticed if she’s from one of the lesser Pureblood families.”
Draco was already nodding. “We have, Pans.” He explained. “She’s not real and not who Harry is actually marrying, so it doesn’t matter. The only thing that does matter is looking after him and keeping him and Rabastan safe. We have our orders.” He stressed again.
Everyone in the compartment knew who those orders had come from and not a single one of them dared to go against the one who had made those orders. Harry’s secret was safe, which meant that he and Rabastan would be safe.
After they’d been moving for a while and after the witch with the trolley had been by and Harry had eaten a few snacks and sweets as well as downed a bottle of pumpkin juice, he stood up and stretched himself.
“I’ll be back soon.” He said, speaking mostly to the puzzled looking Draco. “I want to go and see Theo for a bit.”
Daphne scoffed. “Why do you want to actually talk to that spineless dimwit? He never has anything good or intellectual to say. He has no brain and no spine, he’s like a mollusc. Perhaps I should start calling him slug. It suits him.”
Harry’s eyes flashed dangerously and his right hand clenched into a fist, making his knuckles crack.
“Be very, very careful, Daphne. Theo is my friend and if you carry on you’ll find out exactly why I’m the top of our year in Defence.”
Harry left before he could make good on his promise and he went searching for Theo. He wanted to find out why he hadn’t kicked Daphne out on her arse yet and if he had, for whatever reason, changed his mind about keeping his betrothal to Daphne, then Harry would make sure that he changed it right back again. Daphne was far too poisonous to have such a wonderfully tolerant person such as Theo for a Husband. She didn’t deserve him.
He found Theo in a compartment further down the train from the one that he was in and he was once again sat with a group of seventh year Slytherins.
“Harry, how are you?” Theo greeted him like they were the bestest friends as he stood up and hugged him instead of offering a handshake.
“I’m good, Theo. I just wanted to come and see you.” He said. “I’m in the same compartment as Daphne.”
Theo grinned then. “I suppose you’re wondering why she didn’t blow up at you as soon as she saw you?”
“Yeah.” Harry said bluntly. “I am.”
He peered around at the very interested seventh years.
“Don’t worry about them, they know all about what you did for me and about my troubles concerning Greengrass.” Theo said as he sat down and offered a seat to Harry, which he took.
“Then I don’t feel bad in blurting out what the fuck are you still doing with her?”
That earned him several laughs, but he wasn’t in a joking mood.
“I’m planning to thoroughly humiliate her, don’t worry, Harry. I’m not going to change my mind now that you’ve given me a way out. I’ve already been owling a girl in Poland. She seems really nice.”
Harry breathed out a huge sigh of relief. “You don’t know how happy that makes me. When she came waltzing into the compartment as though everything was fine and nothing had changed I was worried that you’d actually changed your mind.”
“She’ll get what’s coming to her.” One of the seventh year’s said with a nasty looking smirk to his fellow Slytherins.
“Good.” Was all Harry said and he relaxed a little bit.
“How was the rest of your holiday? I heard about the Auror raid after I’d left.”
Harry grimaced. “It was utterly ridiculous! I was not pleased.”
“I was there with my Mother and younger sister.” One of the seventh years said with a grin. “I heard exactly what you thought of the Ministry’s prejudice against us. Very apt.”
“I think by now everyone has heard of what he said to the Aurors.” Another one piped up.
“I had to protect my interests.” Harry said with a smile.
“One particular interest named Rabastan Lestrange?” Theo winked.
Harry laughed. “Yes. Exactly.”
“I see you’re wearing a ring.” One of the seventh years pointed out and Theo’s gaze narrowed on the beautiful white-silver and blue ring studded with diamonds.
“Rabastan and I got engaged on the first.” Harry nodded. “But for the sake of protecting him, I’m engaged to a witch from Nantes called Aceline. The less that those of certain circles know, the better.”
“You mean Dumbledore.”
“I do.” Harry nodded. “There are certain things that he just does not need to know about me or what I’m doing.”
“We all understand that.” Theo nodded. “I can’t believe you and Rabastan are engaged, though!”
“I know.” Harry said excitedly. “I wasn’t expecting it, I thought for sure that he’d propose this summer, seeing as we can’t marry until after I graduate.”
“Where did he propose?” Theo asked.
“Some restaurant called The Garnet Swan. I don’t know where it was, I didn’t ask. It just didn’t seem important at the time.”
“That place charges half a bank vault for a salad.” One of the seventh years snorted. “It’s almost impossible to get a table too, they’re always fully booked and you have to make reservations over a year in advance, you haven’t even been seeing Rabastan that long.”
“We had one of the private rooms on the upper floor.”
Harry got incredulous looks when he said that.
“What did you expect?! Rabastan can hardly go out in public!” He scoffed.
“I thought he was using Polyjuice or something! Those rooms are for the most important of Pureblood dignitaries! They even turned away the Minister for Magic and several foreign guests once, just because he didn’t have a reservation and he hadn’t booked one of the three private rooms, even though all three of them were empty at the time! They can afford to turn away customers with how much they charge!”
Harry grinned. “Rabastan knows the owner and his family.” He boasted. “The owner’s son was Rabastan’s best friend in school and now Rabastan can eat there whenever he pleases with only a pittance of forewarning.”
“Merlin, wait until I tell my sister! She’s been trying to get a date to take her there for years, but it’s virtually impossible.” One of the Slytherin’s laughed.
“I suppose it helped that you’re Harry Potter too.”
“I doubt it, if the owner and his family are friends with the Lestranges then I probably wouldn’t be able to get a reservation even if it was ten years in advance.”
“Things have changed now.” Theo said cryptically. “Everyone of import knows it.”
Harry nodded seriously. “They have changed, insurmountably so over the last couple of months.”
Harry stayed with Theo and the seventh years for a while. He felt much better knowing that Theo was still planning on getting rid of Daphne, that he was just waiting for the right moment to utterly humiliate her to make up for all of the humiliation and disrespect that she had offered to him over the years of their betrothal.
He left their compartment and he made his way back down to where Draco was, typically, it just happened to be his luck that he ran into Hermione, Ron and Ginny on his way back.
“Harry! Can we talk for a minute?” Hermione asked him, darting out of a compartment to head him off.
“I have nothing to say to you.” Harry said haughtily, pulling up his Lord Potter-Black persona that he used in the Wizengamot.
“Please, Harry. We just want put all of this behind us.” Hermione tried.
“We were friends once.” Ginny added. “Please, just hear us out. For old time’s sake.”
“We are sorry about everything, Harry.” Hermione told him after he remained silent. “We were just angry and we overreacted.”
“Overreacted?” Harry drawled slowly. “Is that what you call turning on me for something completely out of my control?”
“We realise now that it truly wasn’t your fault that Malfoy adopted you.” Hermione ploughed on. “I didn’t know anything about magical adoptions, only a little bit about Muggle ones, but I’ve been reading up on them and well…I know now that Malfoy held all the cards and you were given to him without your knowledge or consent. You don’t have to be alone in this anymore, Harry. We want to help you through this.”
“Please say something, Harry.” Ginny pleaded after he remained still and silent.
“I apologise for my lengthy pause, it was rude of me to stagnate the conversation. I’m merely trying to wrap my head around the sheer audacity you have to even approach me.” He forced himself to say.
A couple of months ago he would have begged for this to happen. He had even dreamed of it on occasion, of his friends apologising and admitting that they’d overreacted through lack of knowledge about what had happened to him over the summer. But now, it was different now. How could he ever know for sure if they truly wanted to apologise and tentatively rebuild their friendship, or if they just wanted to get into his good books so that he’d take the debt hanging over their heads away? There was no way he could know for sure, so he couldn’t accept their apologies and he couldn’t let them back in his life. The thought of that made him feel like he was in actual, physical pain.
He thought of Rabastan and calmed himself down. He was engaged to be married, he loved Rabastan with all that he was and he would have a family with him. It was too dangerous to let Hermione, Ron and Ginny back into his life with any doubts or uncertainties over their loyalties or motives. If they read one of his letters and saw something that they shouldn’t or they got so much as a hint that the person he was engaged to was a man then he would be putting Rabastan in danger, but more than that, he’d be putting the Malfoy’s in danger too. He couldn’t risk it, their meagre friendship wasn’t worth his entire future. The future that he’d been planning and mapping out for himself and Rabastan since he’d first heard that he was going to be betrothed to Rabastan Lestrange whether he liked it or not.
“That you even dare to come near me, let alone speak to me, after what you did at the start of the school term. Where do you even get the nerve?!” He demanded. “Do you think me so inept and utterly brainless you actually believe that I can’t see what this is really about? I know the breakdown of the final bill for my damaged possessions was in my Father’s hand on the twenty-third of December. He sent all relevant documents to the correct person in the correct department at the Ministry, who split the cost of all of my school replacements and the repair work done on my broom into six equal parts and your parents would have received the bill in the first week of the New Year. A bit suspicious that suddenly you’ve all had a change of heart and want to be friends again just after those letters arrived. How very obvious of you.”
The three of them shared a look and that was all Harry needed to know that they were never serious about being his friend again. They were doing it because of the debt that each one of them now owed, a debt which was a very substantial amount of gold. Being a Malfoy, all of his belongings had been of the very best quality, handmade, hand tailored and that was without throwing in the repairs on his Firebolt, the world’s best, and most expensive, racing broom on top of everything else too. They had all been expensive to buy and expensive to replace and repair too.
“That’s not why we’re doing this!” Hermione insisted stubbornly.
“Liar.” Harry snapped at her. “It’s the only reason you’re here, trying to get me to remove the debt. Well, I’ll save us all the time of day. I am never going to accept an apology off of you now. It is too late. If you’d done this before the end of the last term, I would have considered it, but not now. Now I know you’re only trying to get me to call back the debt that all of you owe for damaging everything I own!”
“Will you never forgive us?” Hermione pleaded softly.
“No.” He said simply. “The books, robes and the trunk I could have easily forgiven, the material items I could have forgiven, but you maliciously tried to destroy the one remaining thing that Sirius had bought and given to me. You knew how much that Firebolt meant to me. Not because it’s the best broom in the world or because it’s still unmatched three years later, no, but because he gave it to me, because it was one of the only gifts he was able to give to me, because he had touched it with his own hands! I loved that broom because of the sentimentality attached to it and now that Sirius is dead, I cling to it harder! You tried to rip that away from me! It had to be stripped back to a bare handle and meticulously tested to make sure it was safe before it was repaired. You did that knowing full well how devastated I’d be if I ever lost that one remaining physical link to Sirius. Just seeing it in that damaged state was enough to devastate me, you’re just lucky that the handle that he’d touched with his own hands wasn’t chipped or fractured in your cruel attempt to rob me of the memory of Sirius.”
“He’d be so disa…”
“If you finish that sentence, Hermione, you will not be walking off of this train.” Harry threatened softly, his eyes glinting icily. “You knew nothing about Sirius, you have no idea what he’d say in this situation or what he’d be thinking, so don’t even pretend that you know.”
“Remus knew him best and…”
“Did you know that Remus has been to see me several times since I was adopted and that we correspond through owls regularly?” Harry put in, false nonchalantly.
Hermione looked startled and Harry knew that she hadn’t known that he and Remus were talking to one another. She had obviously expected him to have cut Remus off like everyone else or for Remus to be too angry to speak to him.
“I take it from the flush creeping up your neck that you didn’t know. Allow me to enlighten you, seeing as you are very deluded on your view of both Remus and Sirius. Remus knew that I had no choice in my adoption from the very beginning, seeing as he wasn’t stupid enough to think that I’d organised it myself or agreed to actually go and live with the Malfoys. Naturally he was worried about me and my safety, so he came to see me at the very first opportunity he could, where I reassured him that I was safe and being very well looked after. He’s happy for me and he told me that as long as I’m happy and safe, he doesn’t care who it’s with and he told me that not only Sirius, but my parents would have wanted me safe and happy too, no matter who it was with. So before you even dare to try and emotionally blackmail me with my dead family members, remember that the person who knew them the very best has already told me that they’d be fine with my living arrangements and how I’m currently living and conducting myself. I’m happy, Remus is happy for me, it’s your downfall if you can’t be happy for me too and it’s no fault of my own.”
“Please, Harry.” Ginny tried.
He sighed, they’d gone back to begging. He’d had enough. There was only so much pain and heartbreak he could take in one day.
“If that was all?” He snapped, making a move to slip around the group of three.
“You liked me once.” Ginny said softly. “Like liked me.”
Harry sighed and rubbed his face with his hand.
“I think it’s fair to say that that ship sailed when you turned on me and tried to destroy my Firebolt.” Harry hissed.
“It doesn’t have to be!”
“Yes, yes it does.” Harry said sternly. “You tried to destroy one of the only things I had left of my family! I don’t want to be anywhere near someone who is so cruel or malicious.”
“No, you see I had nothing to do with destroying your stuff. The others had a misguided view of things, but I love you, Harry. I always have.”
“No you don’t!” Harry hissed. “You don’t even like me, so stop pretending!”
“I’m not pretending, Harry! I’ve always liked you.” Ginny said defiantly, with a flush reddening her freckled cheeks. “Don’t you remember Valentine’s Day in first year, well, your second, my first year?”
“Honestly? I’m trying to block that particular horrifying memory from my mind.” He said.
Ginny glared at him and Ron swelled with anger.
“You were a little, eleven year old girl and I was twelve. What the hell did you think would come of that?” He demanded.
“I liked you even then!”
“No! You had no concept of those sorts of feelings as a mere eleven year old!” Harry shouted. “You wanted the stories of The-Boy-Who-Lived! I am not a fucking story, Ginny! I am a living, breathing person and you can’t have me.”
“You liked me last year!”
“A hell of a lot has changed since then, Ginny, and even then I didn’t see you as a girlfriend. You’re Ron’s sister, I was nice to you because of that, nothing more.”
“You’re lying! You do like me!”
Harry blew out a breath and thrust his left arm out, splaying his fingers and letting his platinum and blue tungsten ring catch the light streaming through the train windows, making the five large, cut diamonds sparkle.
“What’s that?” Hermione asked breathlessly.
“I would have thought the most intelligent witch of our school year would recognise a ring when she saw one and would realise the significance of a ring on the third finger of the left hand.”
“You went and got married.” Hermione whispered, as if she were having problems breathing or getting her words out.
“Married? Hell no. Not yet at any rate, but I am engaged. I got matching rings for me and my future bride, Aceline. She’s truly wonderful. I took her to The Garnet Swan on New Year’s night to propose to her. Of course she said yes.”
“You’re following that barbaric Pureblood tradition that forces young women to move to a different country with near strangers, just to preserve bloodlines?!” Hermione demanded shrilly. “She’s going to be forced to leave her home and her birth country, her family and friends, just for the sake of marrying you! All this male supremacy and the patriarchal society that Purebloods hold is archaic and disgusting. You expecting her to move just because you’re the man is sexist, callous and inhumane!”
“Are you quite done? Aceline is not the one moving because she’s a woman, if you actually knew anything of Pureblood culture or our traditions then you’d know why she’s the one moving to me instead of sprouting your biased, Muggleborn assumptions…again. I am from the more influential, wealthy family.” Harry insisted haughtily. “I would expect my bride, who is from a lesser family, to move into my home, of course, as I am bringing more into our marriage than she is. If she were from the more influential family, then I would be moving to her. Aceline is very happy with our engagement and she is busy planning our wedding to her desires. Price is, of course, no issue for me, she can have whatever she wishes. Though thankfully she knows a bit of English, so we can actually converse together, but I am still learning French to help make things easier for her and her family.”
Harry left the three of them speechless and he forced himself past them and he made it back to his compartment.
“You were gone for a very long time.” Draco said, looking him over critically and visibly relaxing at his still pristine appearance as Harry sat himself back down.
“I ran into the two Weasleys and Granger on my way back.” Harry said simply.
“They didn’t give you any trouble did they?” Draco asked, his face hardening and his hand flexing towards his wand.
“No. They did try, but I’m very capable of outwitting them. I told them all about Aceline though.” He said with a laugh. “Ginny seemed to think that me and her would be perfect together, so I shoved my ring in her face.”
“Such a ring is wasted on her, as if she knows how much it costs or even what was used to make it.” Pansy sniffed. “She’d probably mistake the platinum for mere silver!”
“As if Father would allow you to marry so low. He’d rather you be with another Half-Blood than a blood traitor.” Draco told him.
“Need I remind you that I was legitimised at birth?” Harry drawled. “For all intents and purposes, I am a Pureblood and I need to marry another Pureblood to keep the line Pure.”
“I’m glad you understand that.” Blaise said before winking at him. “But is there no way I can change your mind? I’d be a good Husband for you too.”
“No you wouldn’t.” Draco snapped at his friend, giving him a glare. “If I so much as hear of you touching my brother, you’ll regret it, Blaise! I mean it!”
“It’s beside the point.” Harry cut in. “I’m engaged and I’m very happy. I’m not leaving Rabastan for anyone, for any reason.”
“He might get rid of you.” Daphne told him with a sniff.
“Why?” Harry asked her. “Unlike you, I haven’t given Rabastan a reason to distrust me or be displeased with me or my behaviour.”
“Give it time, you’re not married yet.” Daphne answered.
Harry rolled his eyes. “You’re ridiculous and shallow. Unlike you, Daphne, I’m not risking everything I have for nothing and I’m not throwing Rabastan away like he’s nothing. We love one another and we’re going to get married and have a family.”
“Don’t delude yourself. He’s with you because he’s been ordered to.” Daphne scoffed and Pansy and Millicent both gasped and even Blaise looked shocked at her daring, presumably for revealing the Dark Lord’s orders to one who wasn’t supposed to know.
“That isn’t true.” Draco said calmly. “He didn’t know about Father choosing Rabastan as Harry’s betrothed until after the Lestranges had accepted the contract.”
“It’s beside the point. Rabastan loves me for who I am.” Harry said easily. “You haven’t even spoken to him, how would you know what he’s thinking and feeling? You make me laugh sometimes, Daphne, you really do. Just because you’re a complete bitch and think that way doesn’t mean that we all do and one of these days, you’re going to regret everything you’ve said and done.”
Daphne scoffed, but Blaise looked at him curiously, as if guessing that he knew something and he was incredibly interested to know what he did about Daphne and her betrothal, or future lack of one. Blaise was very observant with the things that people said, and even more so with what they didn’t say. Harry gave him a covert wink and settled himself back in his seat, waiting for the new school term. He got out a book and started reading up on Ancient Runes. He’d already sent a letter to Marcus about his tutoring, now he wanted to brush up on the basics at least, just to make sure he didn’t make a stupid mistake and make Marcus regret offering to tutor him.
“I thought you’d already read that book.” Pansy pointed out.
“I have. I’m reading it again ready for the new term, just to assure myself that I have the basics down and memorised.”
Harry ignored everyone then and sunk into his book. He had ten weeks to survive before the Easter holiday came around and he could go back home and see Rabastan again. Now that they were engaged, those ten weeks were going to seem longer than the three and a half months it had taken from September to the Christmas holidays. He couldn’t wait until he was graduated and they could get married and actually live together.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X
It took five days for Dumbledore to call him back into his office, the man was learning and he had waited for the end of lessons on Friday the tenth to send McGonagall to him to call him to his office.
He was annoyed, he’d planned to start his homework straight after dinner and now he was going to be behind in his schedule and Marcus was coming on the third weekend of term to tutor him and he still needed to read fifteen more chapters in his review of the basics of Ancient Runes.
His annoyance lasted until he got through the office door and he was once again crushed into a hug by a werewolf.
“Remus!” He laughed as he hugged back tight. “What are you doing here?”
“You never answered my letter and I sent you a gift and a card for Christmas.” Remus said frantically.
“I answered it a few days ago, Hedwig will be with you soon if she’s had to double back on herself and come to Hogwarts. Poor girl, you give her extra treats when she finds you.” Harry said sternly.
“Why did you get them so late? I made sure to send them with enough time to reach you exactly on Christmas Day.”
“I was so busy with the Parkinsons Winter Gala and then the traditions for Christmas Day and then my parents hosted the New Year’s party. There was only a week between them! I didn’t mean to, but I left them on my bedside table when they arrived and only just managed to open them this week. I loved the painting of Sirius, Remus. Thank you. I framed it and I keep it on my bedside table where I can easily see it. Speaking to him again has really helped me and I’ve stopped having so many nightmares. I can’t thank you enough for it.”
Remus sighed and visibly relaxed after Harry had explained why he’d been so late in responding.
“You never told me that Sirius snores quite that loud though!” Harry teased, forcing a surprised laugh from Remus. “I have to silence him at night just to get any sleep at all!”
“We did the same in the dorms. It drove James mad as he couldn’t sleep if there was even the slightest noise.”
Harry grinned and soaked up all the information being given to him. At least until Dumbledore made his presence known.
“I owe you an apology, Harry.” Dumbledore spoke up from behind his desk. “I realise that perhaps I have handled things wrong these last several months. Will you please take a seat and listen to me?”
Harry wondered what new tactic this was as he cautiously sat in one of the chairs opposite the desk. Remus sat next to him and Harry took his hand and squeezed it, giving Remus a smile.
“Now, can you explain what this meeting is about? I have homework to be doing.” He said primly, straightening his back and relaxing his shoulders as Narcissa had taught him.
“I wanted to clear the air between us, Harry.” Dumbledore insisted. “Perhaps a monthly meeting, just once a month, to sit down and talk to help rebuild the trust that we once had.”
“I don’t think that’ll ever happen.” Harry said simply.
“Can’t you try, Harry?” Remus asked softly.
Harry looked into imploring eyes and he sighed. “I’ll owl my Father and see what he thinks. He may want to be here, just to ensure my safety.”
“I’m not going to hurt you, Harry.” Dumbledore told him seriously, those blue eyes very sad.
“Regardless I’d feel better if someone were here with me for these meetings. Just in case.”
“How about if I stay here for the meetings, Harry?” Remus asked. “I wanted to spend a bit more time with you anyway, you’re all I have left now.”
Harry’s face softened and he reached back out to lace his fingers with Remus’, squeezing comfortingly.
“Okay, but I still want to confer with my Father first. He’ll know what’ll be for the best. I have to wait for Hedwig to come back first though.”
“You do still want to defeat Voldemort, don’t you?” Dumbledore asked suddenly and Harry got the feeling that he was under a microscope, his very movements being dissected and scrutinised by old, blue eyes.
He acted quickly, not entirely acting either, and he grit his teeth and clenched his hand tight. He needed to play this right. He was staying out of this war, completely out of it, but if he could stay out of it by pretending to still be fighting with Dumbledore against Voldemort, then he might be able to stay out of the war for a lot longer and keep himself and his family safer.
“Of course I do! He’s a monster and he killed my parents!” Harry raged. “He killed Sirius and Cedric too! I want him gone! I just don’t see why I’m the one who needs to do it. There are others, the Aurors, the Order, you! Why can’t all of you pitch in together to get rid of him? I’ve had enough and I’m not fighting, but that doesn’t mean that I still don’t want Voldemort gone and out of my life. I do.”
“Good, that’s good, Harry. We can work with that if it’s what you want.”
Harry let out a deep breath and sat back again, relaxing from his tensed posture.
“It is. I’ve seen far too much in my life and I can’t take any more. I’ve done enough already!” He insisted. “Last year was devastating to me. Do you have any idea how I feel having seen Sirius die in front of me, knowing that it was my fault that he was there in the first place?! It was the last straw, I’m not putting myself through that anymore.”
“Harry, it wasn’t your fault!” Remus insisted firmly.
“It was. If I’d learnt Occlumency properly, then I wouldn’t have had that vision and gone charging off to the Ministry.”
“Occlumency is an incredibly rare, obscure branch of magic, Harry and it’s very difficult to do.” Remus explained.
“But…I managed to cast a Patronus.” He said sadly.
“Oh Harry.” Remus sat on the edge of his seat and turned to fully face him, cupping his cheeks and resting their foreheads together. “The Patronus charm is based on magical power, Harry. I never thought that you’d get more than mist, but you got a full, corporeal Patronus at just thirteen. Do you know how extraordinary that is? But Occlumency isn’t based on magical power, it’s based fully on mental ability, meditation and cutting off the emotions. Only one in one hundred will be able to meet the prerequisites for even achieving the basics in Occlumency, Harry. It’s not your fault that you couldn’t get the hang of it within a few months. It takes years and years of practice and building up to certain levels to achieve anything in Occlumency. We always thought that we had more time, that you would be in those lessons for the next few years, not mere months.”
“Why did I believe the vision, Remus?” He asked softly, trying to hold back the tears, but they still shone through, making his eye extra bright and shiny.
“Because you loved him, Harry. Because you saw him captured, trapped and in pain and you reacted to that because you loved him and Sirius went after you because he loved you. You both loved one another fiercely and the both of you just wanted to protect one another. What happened to Sirius wasn’t your fault, it was Bellatrix Lestrange’s fault.”
Harry swallowed and his fists clenched again. He’d tried to dissolve the marriage between Rodolphus and Bellatrix, as a favour to the Lestrange family, but the contract that Rhadamanthus had drawn up with the late Cygnus Black had been air tight and there wasn’t a fault or loop hole that he could exploit. He’d even asked the goblins if it could be broken, but they had told him that it couldn’t…except in the case of death of one of the spouses. That had a new plan forming, one that included Bellatrix’s death. He could get his revenge for Sirius. He was already planning Rhadamanthus’ death, why not kill two birds with one stone and take out Bellatrix too?
It seemed to be the only way, he couldn’t dissolve the marriage between Rodolphus and Bellatrix, so he couldn’t disown her from the Black family without offering massive insult to the Lestranges, and as they were to be his Husband and in-laws, he couldn’t afford to insult them in such a way, nor take credibility from their family by disowning Bellatrix like he wanted to as it would harm his own marriage. It was infuriating and it made him hate Rhadamanthus all the more.
He calmed himself. Soon. Very soon. He would take his cold revenge on them both and free the Lestranges from Bellatrix and Rhadamanthus both. Then Rodolphus could marry whomever he wanted and he could finally have the child that he desired without his poisonous, petty father dictating to him what to do or who to tie himself to for the rest of his life.
“I wish things had been different. If Sirius were still alive then none of this would have happened.”
“How do you mean, Harry? Are you talking about your adoption? Are you unhappy at the Malfoys’?” Remus asked him, his eyes widening in panic at the thought of him being hurt or upset.
“What? No! I just…I wish that things had been different. If Sirius were still alive, my parents were still alive, things could have been so much different. Why is it always me? Why are my parents dead, why is my Godfather dead, why is it my name on a prophecy, why is it always me who has to fight? Why me and not someone else?”
“Oh, Harry.”
He was pulled back into a hug and he held on tight to Remus as a few tears slipped out for good measure.
“I’m making the most of things, Remus. The Malfoys adopted me, I couldn’t control that and I had no say, but they’re helping me so much! They’re the family I always needed, despite everything. I’m so happy, I just wish that everything had been different and that none of this had happened in the first place. I wish there had never been a Voldemort.”
“It’ll be alright, Harry. As soon as you’re graduated, you’ll be free to do what you want to do.”
“I already know what I’m going to do.” Harry said with a smile, pulling back and wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his robe. Narcissa would have scolded him if she’d seen him do such a thing.
“You wanted to be an Auror, didn’t you?”
Harry shook his head. “Not any more. I’m done with fighting in all forms, including being a part of the Aurors, they’re just Ministry lackeys. It’s a wonder they can even function properly with how stupid they all are. No, I think I want to be a teacher. I’ve looked into it and France has an amazing trainee teacher programme and they make spaces for apprentice teachers on the Beauxbatons teaching staff.”
“You want to be a teacher at Beauxbatons?” Remus asked, completely shocked.
Harry nodded. “It was you who made me think more seriously about being a teacher, Remus and then I got the bug for it when teaching the DA. I think it’ll suit me so much better than anything else.”
“But, why Beauxbatons?” Remus asked.
“Because they’re the only school who run this trainee teacher programme. I’m already learning French and really…” Harry took a breath and made a point to make it look like he was warring with himself. “I’m getting a lot of help too, seeing as my Fiancée is French.”
“Fiancée?!” Remus looked like he was going to pass out and even Dumbledore looked shell shocked, in a miserable, grave way that made him look fifty years older.
“Yeah, her name’s Aceline. She’s amazing. We’ve been betrothed since August and on the first of January I took her to The Garnet Swan and proposed to her with matching rings as she wanted us both to have a ring to wear.”
Harry held out his left hand and let them see the ring on his finger.
“She doesn’t speak much English, but she understands enough and she’s teaching me French too, so we are able to have a conversation now. It’s customary for her to move in with me, as she’s from the lesser family, but if I get into this teaching programme, then it’ll make a lot more sense if I move to France with her. She’s so excited that she’s even started planning our wedding already.” Harry laughed. Remus and Dumbledore did not join in.
“Are…are you getting married this summer?” Remus asked weakly.
Harry laughed louder. “No! I’m not getting married while I’m still in school! What sort of married life would that be, with me stuck here and Aceline stuck elsewhere? No, our wedding is planned for two summers after this one coming. In nineteen-ninety-nine. After we’ve both graduated. I have to wait the extra year because Aceline is a year younger than I am, but that’s not a bad thing as the training programme is very extensive and time consuming, we might even have to put the wedding off until early two thousand if my training keeps me too busy. That way I can focus on securing my teaching post while Aceline gets her final examinations over and done with and goes into her Healer apprenticeship, then we can get married.”
He didn’t know what had made him lie about the date of his wedding, but his gut had told him that it would be safer to tell Dumbledore that it was another year or two on top of what it was actually going to be. As Dumbledore relaxed and got a twinkle in his eye, as if he were already scheming, Harry mentally congratulated himself on his lie. He just hoped that he’d done enough to keep Dumbledore from ruining his wedding upon his own graduation.
“Are you sure this is what you want, Harry?” Remus tried.
Harry nodded seriously. “I love her, Remus. She’s so kind and gentle, she’ll make a wonderful Mother one day. She’s also smart and very thoughtful and she’ll be an amazing Healer. She fully supports my decision to become a teacher too. She’s amazing, but hell does she have a temper. When she gets fired up, everyone knows about it.”
“She sounds like your Mother.” Remus said softly.
Harry pulled a thoughtful face. “Hmm…maybe that’s why I love her so much.”
“She’s not a redhead, is she?”
Harry grinned. “No. She has dark hair and beautiful, bright blue eyes. I love her eyes.”
“Now you sound like your Father…I mean James.” Remus said a bit awkwardly.
Harry cocked his head. “He’s still my Father, Remus. He’s always going to be my Father. I told you that at the beginning of the year. Lucius is filling in because I don’t have anyone else to do so, but James will always, always be my Dad, no matter who I’m calling Father right now.”
Remus nodded and he looked happier than when Harry had come into the office, but he looked worried too, presumably over his engagement and his plans to marry.
“Was that all? I really need to make a start on my homework. Anyone would think that my NEWTs were this year, not next.”
“Of course, Harry. I think we’ve kept you long enough. But remember my offer for a truce, please.” Dumbledore insisted.
Harry nodded once, curtly, before he hugged Remus one last time and strode from the office. He got to the bottom of the spiral staircase and he let out a sigh of relief. He’d survived yet another meeting between himself and Dumbledore. He was doing well and he hadn’t even lost his temper this time. He really needed to owl Lucius though, he needed his opinion on these ‘truce’ meetings with Dumbledore.
Instead of going back to his rooms, as he so dearly wished to, he went straight to the Owlery and called down Draco’s owl, Saracen.
“Can you deliver a letter to home for me, Sar?” He asked as he groomed the pretentious owl gently.
The handsome Eagle owl cawed out loudly and nibbled his finger, a lot rougher than Hedwig ever did, but not breaking his skin either.
Harry sat down on the Owlery floor, not caring about the straw or owl droppings, he’d be changing as soon as he made it back to his rooms anyway, as he placed Saracen on his lap and quilled a quick letter to Lucius with a self-inking quill.
He tied it gently to Saracen’s leg and gave him a last, firm grooming, before getting him onto his arm and standing up, going to the glassless window.
“Take this straight to Lucius for me, Saracen, as quickly as you can.”
Harry flung his arm out and Saracen took flight, looking majestic as always as he glided for several feet before he flapped his wings in perfect unison.
“Bloody show off.” Harry muttered fondly. “Just like your Master.”
Harry turned and went back to the castle and to his rooms. He was going to have to tell Draco tomorrow morning that he’d used Saracen for an emergency letter.
He made it to his rooms without any problems, everyone was in their common rooms or getting ready for bed. He changed into his pyjamas, but unfortunately he didn’t have time to do his homework now, he’d have to do it all tomorrow. He was thankful now that he’d moved the Gryffindor Quidditch practice to Sunday at any rate as he settled onto his settee with a cup of tea and his Ancient Runes book. He’d read it for half an hour and then get himself to bed, he was going to have a long, busy day sorting out all of his homework assignments, so he needed to get up early.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X
The first fortnight back at Hogwarts was so jam packed and stressful that Harry just wanted to drop to the floor and stay there so that he could just rest. He had so much homework that he barely had time for anything else. He’d held Quidditch practice last Sunday and when he’d woken up on the Monday he’d been so sore that it had been agony to move.
It was Thursday today and Harry was desperate to finish his Ancient Runes basics review before Saturday, when Marcus would be coming to tutor him for a couple of hours, he was nervous about that as he had no idea what to expect from it. Every spare moment had been dedicated to reading the last few chapters of the basics book he’d been given by Lucius last August. It was currently breakfast time and he had the book open at the end of the Gryffindor table, reading furiously and eating very little.
He was very stressed as he still hadn’t heard anything from Lucius and Dumbledore was pressing him for their little meetings, exclaiming that they were very important and urgent. Harry couldn’t think of anything that would be that urgent, but he was getting increasingly ratty every time he had to tell Dumbledore that he was waiting on his Father’s advice and he would get back to him when he had an actual answer. At the moment he was considering telling Dumbledore to shove his little meetings, just out of pure frustration from being hounded over it constantly.
At ten to nine in the morning, he packed up his things and quickly made his way, with the majority of the Great Hall, to his first lesson of the day. Double Potions.
He was partnered with Draco, as usual, so Potions wasn’t quite the torture that it used to be as Snape wouldn’t pick on Draco and with Harry being Lucius’ son now too, it was difficult for the man to insult or belittle him and he couldn’t rip apart his work either, because Draco was one of the very best at Potions. It was only really when they were working on separate potions that Harry sort of fell apart, but with Draco sat next to him, he was always on hand to help him.
“All of you, cauldrons out.” Snape ordered.
Harry sighed. It was a solo potion, not a partnered one, as if he wasn’t already stressed enough. He was too exhausted to be doing this, he was likely going to cause an accident, like Neville always did.
Harry had just finished that thought as he bent down to get his cauldron from his satchel when the rings on his right hand heated up and burnt for several long seconds.
He sat bolt upright and looked at his Lordship rings. They had never done that before, but he didn’t hang around to question it. He immediately packed all of his books and quills back into his bag.
“What? What is it?” Draco asked urgently.
“Wizengamot meeting. Get the set homework assignments for me, please. Oh and don’t forget to get my extra homework for Arithmancy, Professor Vector knows what I’ve done and what she’s going to give me next.” Harry whispered back. “Professor? I’m going to have to leave.”
“Mister Potter. What is this disturbance? Do you think you are too good to learn potions with your peers? You chose this subject for your NEWTs after all, and argued about your right to be included in this class despite not achieving the required OWL grade.”
“I know, Sir, I’m sorry, but a Wizengamot meeting has been called. I’m needed at the Ministry.”
Snape stared hard at him for a moment, before he nodded once and Harry was gone, sweeping out of the classroom and all but running back to his rooms where he threw down his bag, stripped off his uniform and forced his limbs into the expensive robes he had chosen and hung up waiting for his next Wizengamot meeting. He tore his Gryffindor tie off and did his shirt up to the collar before he tore back out of the room and all the way down the four floors and out onto the grounds and over to Hogsmeade. He made it just in time to catch his breath and wipe his sweaty face with a handkerchief which he had only just tucked back into his pocket before his second Portkey activated and he took a step forward and kept walking, expecting everyone to move out of his way as a Lord of two houses. He couldn’t see at the moment anyway, so if they didn’t move, he was going to bump into them.
He automatically made his way towards the lifts to take him to the Wizengamot meeting room on the second level, however he met Lucius and Xerxes right outside the lifts and they seemed to be waiting for him, which was unusual in itself.
“You’re almost late.” Xerxes told him with a critical look to his face and clothes, making sure that they were up to standard.
“Snape wasn’t going to let me leave Potions until I explained what was happening.” Harry said, breathing deeply to make it seem like he was in control of himself when his heart was racing and his chest was heaving from his run through the castle and the grounds. “It took forever to get from the dungeons to the fourth floor, where my rooms are, get changed and then get to Hogsmeade before I missed my Portkey…thank Merlin I’m not in Gryffindor Tower anymore, because I don’t think I’d have made it up to the seventh floor from the dungeon and then back down and out to Hogsmeade before the second Portkey went off.”
Lucius nodded and touched his shoulder before the three of them climbed into a lift.
“Did you feel the difference in your rings?” His Father asked him.
Harry nodded. “I was wondering why it felt different. It burnt for a lot longer than usual.”
“A trial has been called.” Xerxes answered. “It’s why we waited for you in the Atrium instead of letting you arrive to the meeting room by yourself as we have taken to doing. You would have found it empty and you would have disgraced yourself and your family by turning up late to a trial hearing.”
“Now now, Xerxes, he wasn’t late and we weren’t expecting a trail so soon in the year so Harry wasn’t told about the differing meanings of the rings. Let us put this matter behind us and get to courtroom seven.”
“I had my hearing in courtroom ten.” Harry said, more for something to say after his chastisement by his future Father-in-law. It seemed to him that Xerxes was in a very bad mood and Harry didn’t want to make things worse or draw that anger onto himself any more. He wanted to make Xerxes proud, not angry with him.
“That was a farce.” Xerxes growled angrily. “Never before have the Lords been banned from a hearing, or even been denied the knowledge of one taking place! We were not happy, Harry, regardless of who you were, it was the principle of excluding us from an ancient practice which the Lords of the old families set up in the first place!”
“Fudge more than paid for his oversight.” Lucius assured them both. “I made sure to stress to him that the next time he tries to pull such a stunt that it might cost him his job.”
“I bet he didn’t like that.” Xerxes chuckled, lightening up a little, causing Harry to relax slightly.
“Of course not.” Lucius replied with a smirk. “It pulled him back into line though. It seemed to me like he was getting ideas above his station.”
“But…he’s the Minister.” Harry said with a frown. “What higher station is there?”
Xerxes and Lucius looked at him and then each other, as if to say ‘isn’t he just adorable?’ and Harry scowled.
“Harry, dear one, who do you think controls the Minister?”
Harry pulled a face and then remembered Lucius’ lessons on implanting information and using bribery and coercion to get what one wanted from others without their knowledge. “You?” He asked Lucius.
His Father smiled and patted his shoulder. “Someone has to control him. We of noble blood take the backseat and rule from behind, Harry. The public don’t know that we rule, they see Fudge leading them, so anything that goes wrong, and it does because I orchestrate things that way, they blame Fudge and he takes all the heat and scorn for it.”
“So, you’re making him do things that you want him to do, without him knowing, or the public knowing, so that when things go wrong, which they do, he gets the blame and not you?” Harry asked.
Lucius and Xerxes nodded. Harry nodded his own understanding.
“Okay. I take it that he prefers bribes then?”
“Bribes in the form of charitable donations, yes.” Lucius answered. “It makes him look good because he can be seen giving more gold to these different organisations, so it keeps him in the publics favour. Of course I only donate to the causes I believe in.”
Harry sighed, but said nothing more as they arrived in a corridor that was thronged with people. He made a mental note to watch Lucius interact with Fudge more closely, hoping to pick up on a few tips. He needed to start practising on his school peers too. He was going to start small and simple to begin with and then gradually move up. He wanted to one day be as good, if not surpass, Lucius’ level of manipulation and control.
“Stay close.” Lucius told him, touching his elbow protectively.
They milled around for a little while, greeting and making small talk with the other Lords and Heads of Departments, until a chime sounded and everyone neatened themselves into lines and filed into the courtroom in an orderly fashion.
“Who are they?” Harry asked softly. “They aren’t members of the Wizengamot.”
“They’re members of the Council of Magical Law.” Lucius answered. “Some on the Council are also Wizengamot members, like Amelia Bones, but some are not, so you won’t have met them before…but you may have seen most of them from your hearing. It was conducted only by the Council of Magical Law, and not by both the Council and Wizengamot.”
“A thing which is unheard of, as the Wizengamot is superior to the Council.” Xerxes added as they took three seats in the half circular stone benches centred on one wooden chair with chains wrapped around the arms.
Harry shivered as he stared at it, remembering sitting in that chair and the chains rattling menacingly…he had been relieved at that time that the chains had not bound his arms to the chair.
Two comforting hands touched his knees at almost the same time and Harry relaxed, smiling gratefully at his Father and Father-in-law, who had sandwiched him between them, as per usual.
The man in front of them turned to greet them and Harry smiled wider, greeting Dawson Shacklebolt politely and respectfully.
He actually liked the Lord Shacklebolt, as he had liked Kingsley, his Nephew, too. It was just a shame that Kingsley was so close to Dumbledore in his Order and had stopped supporting him because he wouldn’t support Dumbledore blindly like the rest of them.
“Lord Potter-Black. You’re looking very well, radiant even, would it perhaps have something to do with that ring on your finger?”
Harry looked automatically to his left hand and his smile morphed into a grin.
“Yes, I believe it does.” Harry answered. “I got engaged on the first. I’m very happy.”

“Who is the lucky one?” Dawson asked.
Harry smiled and looked left to Lucius and then right to Xerxes.
“Can I assume that it has something to do with your family, Lord Lestrange?”
“You can assume all you like, but whether you get the correct answer is yet to be seen.” Xerxes replied stonily.
Dawson inclined his head respectfully and aware that he’d crossed a line, he turned back to face the front.
“What trial is this?” Harry asked quietly. “I thought we were supposed to receive all evidence before the trial.”
“That’s why we’re here, Harry.”
“But…” Harry cut himself off and thought about what he wanted to say first, instead of blurting everything out in a jumble of words. “I assumed that we’d be receiving the evidence in the meeting room and debating it there and that we’d only come to the actual courtroom to hear the accused’s testimony.”
“No, all proceedings of a trial have to be held in a courtroom.” Lucius told him patiently, taking the time needed to actually teach him. “The evidence will go straight from this courtroom into a sealed evidence room at the end of this hallway and vice versa. The evidence isn’t allowed to travel too far from the sealed room, there would be too much of an opportunity of tampering and then the evidence could be called into questioning and the trial might very well fall through and a criminal might walk free.”
Harry nodded his understanding, it made a lot of sense to do things that way, to preserve as much of the evidence as possible without any hope of tampering with it.
“Is it Umbridge?” He asked tensely.
“No. You wouldn’t be allowed in the trial as you’d be a witness.” Lucius told him patiently. “I believe this is the bumbling drunkard who thought it a good idea to send off blasting hexes in Muggle Kent. The one you voted to be brought before the full court and face Azkaban.”
“Ah.” Harry said. “I remember, he should face Azkaban for what he did. I wasn’t expecting such a quick turnaround, especially when Umbridge hasn’t had a trial yet. It’s only been a month.”
“She’s still in a holding cell while Magical Law Enforcers gather the evidence against her.” Xerxes told him. “Her offence was more grave than shouting out about the magical world, she injured children at a school. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was another year before we were called to her trial. The MLEs are going to make sure that they have every single scrap of evidence they can gather before bringing her to court.”
Harry nodded his understanding, just as they were called to order by the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Harry smiled sickly sweetly at him when he caught the Minister’s eye and he watched as the man who had been trying to have him expelled and had, until very recently, tried to slander him in the media and tried to make him out to be a delusional little boy who liked attention went very, very pale.
Fudge blanched and quickly looked away from him. Harry chuckled and on either side of him, Xerxes and Lucius chuckled too, having caught the exchange.
“The members of the esteemed Wizengamot have voted to have a matter brought to trial and today we will look at the evidence collected from the alleged crime committed.” Fudge called out loudly as with a wave of his wand a hundred or so folders floated out and hovered in front of each member of the Council of Magical Law and the Wizengamot.
Lucius and Xerxes both turned to the first page, so Harry emulated them and did the same and he quietly read the first page, detailing the background of the offence, how Mister Dennis Jute had downed three glasses of vintage Firewhiskey before glugging straight from the bottle before doing the same to a second bottle.
Harry read through the folder, rustling sheets of parchment as the report went on to detail how Dennis Jute had gone out into the Muggle world and started stumbling about, talking loudly about dragons, telling the Muggles where the reserve in England was located even, before he started talking about magic and swaying along the streets and that was when he’d started firing off blasting hexes.
He’d injured two innocent Muggles, destroyed six cars, numerous buildings and even the road he’d been staggering down.
The senior Obliviator on the scene that day had given a statement of what she had seen and the damage done and the work and highly stressed environment her team had been put in and she called for the person responsible to be held accountable. It was noted on the end of the report that she would be one of the witnesses against the accused.
The next sheaf of parchment was from the Healer in charge of the two terrified Muggles who’d had to be taken to St Mungos to be healed and it documented the extent of the damage done to them both, how that damage had been healed and how long it had taken, perhaps the worst though had been the lingering psychological trauma that had been left behind in both Muggles who’d been attacked. They’d been Obliviated as soon as they’d been healed and released, but the Healer had warned that they would have psychological triggers relating to the event and that they wouldn’t even know the cause of those triggers because of the powerful memory charm. Their quality of life had been significantly reduced because of this trauma and if their triggers were engaged, then they would possibly be spending the rest of their lives in a Muggle mental hospital to treat the damage with no apparent cause. It was utterly galling.
Harry turned to the next sheaf of parchment and read the account of the first Magical Law Enforcer on the scene, who detailed the utter destruction done to the several streets that Mister Jute had managed to wander and the statement from one of the first to apprehend Mister Jute, who had claimed in his drunken state that he was ‘cleansing’ the world for future generations of magical children.
On the next page, Harry was surprised to find a complete, full statement, which had been made by himself, in the Wizengamot meeting hall a month ago, outlining his view on the matter and the punishment that he believed fit the crime that had been committed. A note at the bottom of his statement clinically specified that the Wizengamot members had declared in favour of Lord Harry James Potter-Black’s proposed punishment forty-one members to a mere eleven who opposed him.
The last page was an overview, detailing the laws that had been broken, how serious a breach of the Statute of Secrecy there had been and where the law stood on the breaking of said laws and Statutes…if Mister Dennis Jute was found guilty, he would be going to Azkaban for his crimes. He, Harry, would have sent someone to those soul sucking monsters.
Harry took a deep breath and calmed himself. Dennis Jute was guilty. He had done those terrible things to those who could neither defend themselves, nor had any clue what was going on or what they were seeing and as he’d said in the Wizengamot meeting, he would not allow inebriation to become an excuse for a witch or wizard’s actions. Mister Jute should have had more sense than to guzzle two bottles of vintage Firewhiskey, which was an incredibly potent drink from what Rabastan had told him when Harry had shared his Wizengamot meeting with him. A wizard who had that little sense had no business running amok in the Muggle world and he needed to pay for his crimes. In the meantime, Harry would work on his proposal for the permanent removal of the Dementors. It couldn’t be rushed, he had to present it in such a way that the other members of the Wizengamot started to believe the same as he did. It had to be planned down to the letter, right down to the very tone of voice he used while outlining his proposal. He had to get fifty or so other people to believe that the Dementors were a serious danger to them and their world as well as the Muggles too. He had to get them behind him and his way of thinking and that was going to be difficult enough without rushing it and overlooking something important that could be used against him in a debate and ruin his entire proposal. He had to think of every single angle himself and that was proving almost impossible as no one else, not even his family, were taking him or his concerns, not even his cold, factual research, seriously and thus they weren’t any sort of help to him. He was on his own with his idea and his plans, so he had to go that much slower.
Once everyone had finished reading the folder and had closed it on their laps to show that they had finished, Fudge once again spoke to them.
“Members of the court that serve the wizarding public, the Wizengamot have voted on this crime and have declared the accused fit for Azkaban. I have reviewed this matter myself and all material included and I suggest a ten year sentence to Azkaban for the accused, Mister Dennis Jute, with a chance of parole after serving a minimum of six years.”
“Yes, he suggests. He should be giving you more credit, Lucius.” Xerxes whispered under his breath. Harry could only hear him because he was sat right between the two men, though he pretended not to have heard a thing.
“Indeed.” Lucius replied. “You forget, Xerxes. All I did was advise him on the correct imprisonment term for this sort of offence.”
“You did, and then you inflated it by several years.” Xerxes chortled.
Lucius smirked nastily and chuckled himself. “That Mudblood should be lucky I couldn’t get away with giving him a life sentence.”
Harry cleared his throat angrily, staring straight ahead, but his body had gone tense and he felt like the merest touch would send him flying at someone’s throat. The warmth of the anger settled deep in his belly, as it always did when he heard that dreadful word. He had to do something about that too…especially in schools. Perhaps an automatic loss of points and a couple of night’s worth of detention for anyone who dared use that filthy word. It was disgusting, degrading and discriminatory and those with the power to do so needed to be doing much more to put an end to that sort of verbal prejudice. There was name calling and then there was name calling. Differences such as Draco calling Hermione a beaver and then calling her a Mudblood. Harry had been guilty of the former, calling Draco a ferret for instance, but he had never, nor would he ever, single someone out purely because of their blood status, skin colour, ethnicity or sexuality. It was disgraceful behaviour.
“I apologise, Harry. I should not have used such a politically incorrect word in your presence nor in this courtroom.”
Harry nodded his head tightly to show that he’d heard, but said no more as Fudge droned on and on about the breakdown of the sentence and how many years were being given for what offence bearing on the severity of the crime committed. Lucius really had worked it all out really well if he’d managed to inflate the sentence by several years and have the sentence of ten years work out perfectly when broken down in this way.
“This is ridiculous!” One member of the room burst out furiously. “We cannot, in good conscience, sentence a man to ten years in Azkaban for drinking!”
“He wasn’t just drinking though, was he?” Harry burst out angrily, his temper already riled because of Lucius’ ‘Mudblood’ comment. “No, he was meandering his way up a Muggle street, sending off blasting hexes left and right, with no concern for the damage that he was doing, the people that he was hurting nor the exposure he was creating! He could have killed several people with his little stunt!”
“He didn’t kill anyone!” Someone else burst out just as angrily.
“Ah, but he could have!” Harry bit out icily, daring anyone to correct him or to argue with him. “A blasting hex through a window could have killed any number of people, a blasting hex to a car could have caused it to explode, putting more lives in danger! We shouldn’t have to wait for the loss of innocent lives to act on this matter. I fully believe that it was his intention to go out and kill as many Muggles as possible that night.”
“How can you even think to say that in this court with no proof?!”
“Your proof is in this very report, or did you not bother to read it?” Harry demanded. “On page five, paragraph six it was documented by the Magical Law Enforcer who apprehended Mister Jute that he was reported to have said that he was ‘cleansing’ the world for future magical generations. What do you take this to mean when he was in a Muggle area, filled with Muggles that he was firing blasting hexes at?!”
“It was just drunken ramblings!” A woman cut across him. “He is a Muggleborn wizard who happened to have a bit too much to drink! He never killed anyone and I don’t think it was ever his intention to hurt anyone.”
“On the contrary, I believe that if he hadn’t drunk quite so much then his aim would have been that much better and we might have been looking at countless dead instead of two injured.” Harry put in calmly. “He was so inebriated that he couldn’t walk in a straight line and he was firing off blasting hexes, not tickling charms. If he didn’t mean to harm anyone, then why choose the blasting hex?”
“Lord Potter-Black raises a very important issue.” Lord Shacklebolt put in. “Why did Mister Jute choose the blasting hex if he never meant any harm to anyone?”
“He was drunk!” One man shouted out.
“He was aware and sober enough to say the incantation and perform the wand movement required for such a hex.” Harry replied softly. “So I ask again, if he meant no harm, why the blasting hex? Which has to be said is really quite complex for an inebriated man to perform. Why not choose something simpler and less deadly than a blasting hex?”
“He was off of his face, boy! Who knows why he chose that hex?! He likely doesn’t even know himself!”
“You will refer to me as Lord Potter-Black at all times, not boy. I will not be disrespected in such a way.” Harry insisted arrogantly, making the council member flush horribly for his political oversight. “Alcohol does not excuse him from his actions. He did use the blasting hex, he did cause a severe amount of damage, he did injure two people and he posed a huge risk to Muggle lives. He was drunk, yes, but he was also apprehended claiming that he was cleansing the world for future magical generations. If we let him go with nothing more severe than a fine and a slap on the wrist then there is every possibility of this happening yet again, and this time we might not be looking at two injured but numerous dead. I for one do not want that on my conscience. So yes, I want to see Mister Jute locked away where he cannot do anymore harm to the poor, defenceless Muggles, nor to the Statute of Secrecy. Ten years in Azkaban and a chance of parole after serving six years is the price he has to pay for his heinous actions and the large threat that he poses to us and to the Muggles.”
Harry sat back more comfortably and as one, Lucius and Xerxes placed a hand on each of his knees in silent support and comfort.
“We have already had to up the anti-Muggle jinxes on the English Dragon Reserve because of the leaked information.” One wizard said gravely. “Such jinxes take considerable power to cover such a large area and to keep it completely concealed. The Dragon Handlers are beside themselves that their dragons have been put at risk by one thoughtless man. They want assurances that this won’t happen again and that the perpetrator will be held accountable.”
“Who cares what the lowly dragon handlers think?!” One Lord sneered.
“I do, for one.” Harry said immediately, being drawn right back into the debate, thinking of Charlie Weasley and Norbert and the four dragons that had been brought over for the Tri-wizard tournament. Charlie had been beside himself that they were using dragons for sport in the tournament and he’d been livid that Krum had caused such damage to the clutch of eggs of his selected dragon. He had ranted for days afterwards, Harry recalled fondly. He’d actually liked Charlie, despite only seeing him a few times. “What would you do if a dragon got loose in the Muggle world? Say a dragon just flies right over the length of the British Isles, how do you handle that sort of exposure? How do you track down every single Muggle who happened to see a real, fire breathing dragon flying through the sky? Or for that matter how do you track down all of those who used a camera to take a picture of it, a picture which would then be plastered all over the Muggle world? Like it or not, the Dragon Handlers do a thankless service to our world through their love and passion for caring for the dragons and keeping them happy and healthy on Ministry approved reserves. We need the Dragon Handlers and the reserves to remain a secret for the health of the dragons and the safety of us and the Muggles.”
There was silence in the courtroom for a long while after Harry had stopped talking and Harry revelled in the knowledge that he’d left these people speechless, even momentarily. It was a good, powerful feeling and he enjoyed it.
Things continued back and forth until midday, when they took a break for lunch and Xerxes and Lucius took him to the bank of fireplaces in the Atrium and through the floo to Lestrange Manor, where Xerxes had invited them for lunch.
“Elf! Go and get Rabastan.” Xerxes called out and Harry was so horrified he couldn’t even say anything for a handful of minutes.
“Is that its name?” Harry asked stiffly.
Xerxes shot him a look. “That’s right, you’re all for house elves aren’t you? If it did have a name I’ve long since forgotten it. Why don’t you ask it?”
The bedraggled, beaten down elf appeared again to bow to Xerxes and tell him that he’d done as asked.
“Good, drinks and a light lunch for all of us. Now!”
Before Harry could ask it about its name, it was gone again with another bow that had its nose touching the wooden floor. It reminded him of Dobby and his temper, already being strained by the Wizengamot debates, flared.
Before Harry could say anything Rabastan came tearing into the room faster than Harry had ever seen him move before and he had almost bowled him over in a huge bear hug.
Harry laughed happily as he threw his arms around Rabastan’s neck and got distracted with the kisses being rained over his lips.
“Oh, excuse us, we’ll all just leave shall we?” Rodolphus’ snarky comment burst through Harry’s happy fog.
“Would you?” Harry asked cheekily.
“No.” Lucius replied sternly.
“I’ve missed you so much.” Harry told Rabastan instead of answering, still holding tight to Rabastan.
“I miss you more now that we’re engaged, I can’t reason it out.”
“I feel the same way.” Harry laughed. “It seems more real, more permanent now that we’re engaged over just being betrothed and I miss you so much more.”
“Let us reconvene in the dining room, lunch will be served soon and there’s much to discuss about the Wizengamot meeting.”
“I want to hear all about it.” Rabastan told him interestedly and Harry allowed himself to be led to the dining room of Lestrange manor for a quick lunch before he was forced back to courtroom seven and to a trial that he had helped set up and bring about a month earlier.
Harry sat next to Rabastan and they ducked their hands under the table and laced their fingers together like sweetheart teenagers.
“What is the meeting about this time?” Rodolphus asked.
“It’s the set up for the trial of that Mud…Muggleborn, who went on that traipse through the Muggle world firing off blasting hexes.” Xerxes only just managed to cut off the word ‘Mudblood’ after remembering how Harry had reacted in the courtroom.
“A shame he didn’t manage to kill any of them.” Rodolphus said seriously.
“Excuse me!” Harry puffed up angrily. “They’re innocent people!”
Rodolphus sneered at him.
“Dolphus.” Rabastan said warningly.
“Going soft on me now, Basti? After all we’ve done together.” Rodolphus demanded. “You go and get engaged and suddenly you’re all for Muggles and house elf rights.”
“I’m not going soft.” Rabastan said angrily. “I hate Muggles as much as you do and Harry understands that about me, but to respect him in return, I will not speak of it in such blatant terms in front of him and if my stopping the obvious hate I have for Muggles, Muggleborns and house elves makes Harry more comfortable, I’ll do just that.”
Harry beamed at him like a love sick fool, but he couldn’t help it and he squeezed Rabastan’s hand happily.
“What’s the house elf’s name here?” He asked.
“It has a name?” Rodolphus quipped quickly.
“That’s what I said.” Xerxes chuckled.
“You two are far too alike.” Harry groused, looking to Rabastan for an answer.
“I have no clue what it’s called. It’s been elf since I was a small boy.”
Harry sighed unhappily and took a drink of water. The conversation moved on to the trial and Harry contributed very little, but he was still holding Rabastan’s hand and before he knew what he was doing, he was playing with Rabastan’s fingers, his knuckles, his palm, his wrist and his arm, smiling down as he watched his own fingers run over the skin and brush over the black hairs. Rabastan got goosebumps from his touches after only a few moments and it made Harry grin.
“What in the name of Merlin are you doing?” Harry was broken from his peaceful playing by Rhadamanthus’ very unwelcome voice intruding on his happiness.
He sighed. “I suppose it was too much to ask to have a nice, quiet lunch.” He lamented.
“You’re touching him under the table!” Rhadamanthus hissed. “Move seats, now!”
“We’re allowed to hold hands and sit next to one another!” Harry hissed back.
“Not until you’re engage…”
Harry cut Rhadamanthus off by thrusting his hand out and showing him the ring on his finger.
“We are engaged.” He said tartly. “You really are behind the times, we’ve been engaged for almost a month now.”
“You got engaged without even informing me?!” Rhadamanthus demanded, his voice dangerously low.
Rabastan didn’t even look at his Father as he calmly pulled Harry closer into the side of his body. Harry was the closest to Rhadamanthus and it was obvious that Rabastan didn’t like it one little bit.
“I was under the impression that I didn’t need to inform you.” Rabastan answered tonelessly.
“Did you know about this?!” Rhadamanthus demanded of Xerxes and Rodolphus, a vein throbbing on either side of his thick neck.
“Watch your tongue, boy!” Xerxes growled. “I am still Head of this household and you are in my house!”
“Of course we knew.” Rodolphus said simply after a pregnant pause. “Rabastan tells me everything and as soon as he had the finished ring in his possession, he came to me for advice. He wanted to propose as soon as he had the ring in early December. He wouldn’t even let me see it before he’d given it to Harry, it was torturous waiting to see it for that long.”
“You had the ring before Christmas and didn’t give it to me immediately?” Harry teased.
“I wanted to, I really did, but Rodolphus beat it into my head that we would remember the proposal for the rest of our lives. I could have done it quickly, as soon as I first saw you, but waiting made it more special.”
Harry sighed. “It really did, thank you.” Harry said. “And thank you too, Rodolphus for helping to make it perfect.”
“I will remember it forever as one of my happiest memories.” Rabastan told him.
Harry grinned at that but Rhadamanthus grimaced, as though he’d been forced to suck and chew on a lemon, obviously at the thought of Rabastan being even remotely happy. Harry felt a coil of icy anger surge and suddenly he wanted to slash his wand into Rhadamanthus’ face. It would be so easy, his wand was in a specialised holster strapped to his thigh, all it would take was a quick movement and his wand would be out and he could curse Rhadamanthus before the evil man could hope to react.
“Harry!” Lucius’ loud voice broke through his red hazed thoughts and he snapped his head around.
He must have been too tense or something in his body language had alerted the others at the table that he was half a breath away from attacking the Lestrange male. Lucius sounded like he’d called him more than once and as he snapped around to look at his Father, something on his face or in his eyes made the others realise that he was incredibly angry and that he was half a breath away from attacking Rhadamanthus.
Lucius went to stand up, likely to remove him from the room and give him a chance to calm down under the guise of a telling off, but Rabastan got there first and he pressed their lips together hard in a passionate kiss. Harry relaxed almost immediately as those arms wrapped around him and he wrapped his arms around Rabastan’s neck.
“Better?” Rabastan whispered, only breaking them apart when they absolutely needed to take in a deep breath or risk passing out.
Harry nodded. “Yes. You always make me feel better. I couldn’t control the anger by myself.”
“Focus on me. He doesn’t matter.” Rabastan said a little more loudly and no one in that room had any doubts that Rhadamanthus was supposed to hear what he’d said.
Rhadamanthus had heard him and he reacted so predictably that Harry almost laughed at how easy it was to rile him up as one large hand tightened into a fist and his face flushed a dark red with anger. He obviously did not like that Rabastan was no longer listening or taking to heart the cruel things he was saying to him. Rhadamanthus had lost his power over Rabastan and he didn’t like it at all.
The poor house elf unfortunately took that moment to appear and serve lunch, minus Rhadamanthus’.
“You disgusting little wretch!” Rhadamanthus spat, kicking the poor elf flying.
Harry was up in a shot, before Rabastan or anyone else could stop him, and he was cradling the poor injured elf in his own lap.
“Get out.” Harry ordered Rhadamanthus, glaring at him and panting like he’d run a marathon. “NOW!” He yelled when Rhadamanthus didn’t move.
“You heard the boy. Get out.” Xerxes ordered firmly, standing up and towering over his son.
“It’s a house elf!” Rhadamanthus argued incredulously.
“Don’t make me remove you myself…not again.” Xerxes warned seriously.
Rhadamanthus went near purple with anger and frustration, but he stormed out of the dining room, to go where, Harry didn’t frankly care as long as it was as far away from him as possible.
“Are you okay?” He asked the elf in his lap.
“Young Master must not concern himself….”
“I already have concerned myself.” Harry replied firmly. “What is your name?”
The elf squeaked and looked to be on the verge of not answering…only Harry was now an official member of the Lestrange family. He was the Fiancé of Rabastan, that made him part Lestrange and the elf couldn’t ignore him or anything he asked.
“I is being called Torey, young Master.”
“Alright, Torey. Are you injured?” Harry asked gently.
“No, young Master.”
Harry nodded. “Are you sure?”
Torey nodded his large head, his massive ears flapping and Harry helped him to stand. He teetered for a moment, mostly because his brown eyes were obscured by unshed tears at Harry’s kindness, before he vanished and Harry stood, dusted himself down and sat himself next to Rabastan as though nothing had happened.
“That was completely bizarre and uncomfortable to watch.” Rodolphus shook his head as if trying to shake out the offending memories.
“Let us just eat lunch, we need to leave soon. The trial preparation will be commencing in just half an hour.” Xerxes replied.
Harry went back to holding Rabastan’s hand and eating his lunch. He needed to absorb as much of Rabastan’s presence as he possibly could. This was a rare thing indeed, being able to see him during term time and he was going to make the most of it.
They finished their lunches quickly and Harry watched as Rabastan and Rodolphus both knocked back a cocktail of different coloured and different dosages of potions before they each drained a full pint of water, the only sign that the potions they’d taken were utterly foul.
“I made an appointment for your Healer visit, Harry.” Lucius told him and Harry groaned.
He’d been putting that appointment off for months now and it seemed that Lucius had finally gotten fed up of his lame excuses and booked him in without consulting him.
“It will be fine.” Rabastan told him. “You need to get healthy, like I do.”
Harry sighed, because really what could he actually say to that now? He could hardly kick up a fuss about a mere Healer visit when Rabastan and Rodolphus were following a diet that was so strict they couldn’t even deviate from their set meal plans, they had to eat every single last bite even if they didn’t want to and they had to eat at exactly the same time every day and that wasn’t including the just as strict, rigorous exercise plan they also had to adhere to or the vast collection of potions they had to take daily.
“When is it?” He asked, trying not to sound as fucked off as he actually was.
“This weekend.” Lucius told him.
“Not Saturday?” Harry asked quickly.
“Would it be a problem if it was?”
“Yes!” Harry said in utter frustration.
“If this is because of Quidditch I’ll…”
“It’s not!” Harry cut in. “That’s the day that Marcus is coming to give me tutoring. It’ll be two full hours on Saturday afternoon, and I already have to try and fit in all my other homework around it too.”
“Lucky for you then that the appointment is Sunday.” Lucius replied calmly.
Harry went to keep on ranting, but those words cut in and he cocked his head slightly.
“Sunday?” He questioned.
“Sunday morning, at nine sharp.” Lucius replied.
Harry nodded his head and relaxed his shoulders. “Okay then. I can work with Sunday.”
Rabastan had gone quiet and red faced, angry red faced. Harry frowned at him.
“What’s wrong?” He asked.
“You never said you were actually going through with that tutoring.”
Harry’s eyes narrowed. “Yes I did. Of course I was serious about it, Rabastan. I need all the help I can get, I’m three years behind everyone else!”
“From the bastard who tried to take you away from me! The one who actually kissed you.”
Harry made an annoyed scoffing noise. “Need I remind you that it was your fault that we were in that situation in the first place? You kept pushing me at other men, so I showed you what it was like if I went off with another man. There was nothing between us, not even a spark of attraction as I suspect that Marcus is completely straight. He only kissed me to get you to react and you did…without even mentioning that he kissed my cheek. Do not start on this again, Rabastan, it’s getting very old.”
“I believe that’s our cue to leave.” Xerxes said firmly.
Harry shook his head “No. If I leave now, then nothing will get sorted and these feelings will fester and drive a wedge between us.”
No one said anything and Rabastan was breathing deeply, as if to calm himself down. Harry didn’t have the luxury of time, however. He was needed back at the courtroom and then back at Hogwarts.
“Are you really so jealous that you don’t want me to have tutoring that I really need just because it’s Marcus? What next, are you going to flip into an angry, jealous rage if my Healer on Sunday is male too? Am I not allowed male friends just because I happen to be gay? We are engaged, Rabastan, I have no idea what that means to you, but to me it was a promise, a commitment to one another and I’m not going to do anything to jeopardise that. I can’t believe that you’re doing this again! That you’re going to put us both through this again! Did I not prove my faithfulness and my purity in that little Veritaserum test of Rodolphus’? What more do you actually want from me?!” He demanded.
Harry shook his head as Rabastan still remained silent and he raised his left hand and he went to rip the engagement ring off of his finger to hand it back to Rabastan, but his Fiancé leapt up and covered his hand with his own, tugging the other one away from the ring.
“Don’t. Please don’t.” Rabastan begged him. “Don’t take it off. I love you.”
“You have a funny way of showing it!” Harry hissed. “Or maybe it’s not a question of not loving me, perhaps you just don’t trust me.”
“I do!”
“Then why is this a problem? If you trust me so much then why are you so worried about me having tutoring with Marcus?! What do you think I’m going to do?”
“Because he’s bigger than you!” Rabastan burst out.
Harry blinked. He opened his mouth and then closed it again and then narrowed his eyes as he clicked onto what Rabastan’s fear actually was. “You think he’s going to try and force himself on me when we’re alone, shut up in my rooms? It’s not me you don’t trust, it’s him.”
“Exactly!”
“That didn’t really seem to work for Rowle now, did it?” Harry replied nonchalantly, ignoring the sudden appearance of clenched fists and low growls around the dining room at the sound of Rowle’s name. “I can take care of myself, Rabastan. I’m not some stupid little kid or some damsel in distress who’ll lie there and wait to be rescued. I am fully capable of hurting and even killing someone who attacks me.”
“That’s not the point.” Rabastan said, getting very upset. “I don’t want you to go through anything like that again and inviting Flint into your rooms makes me uneasy when I can’t be there to help you.”
Harry sighed and looped his arms around Rabastan’s neck. “Nothing is going to happen to me. Marcus isn’t even gay or bisexual. Besides, he has a new love interest.”
“He does?” Rabastan asked.
Harry nodded. “He really likes her, but he said she’s not very feminine because her Mother died when she was really young and she doesn’t like dresses or flowers or jewellery so she’s usually overlooked by suitors.”
“Eleanor Fawley.” Xerxes and Lucius said together.
“She’s from a lesser branch of the Fawley family. Her cousin Felicity, from the main branch of the family, was matched to a highly prominent Spanish wizard of the Floros family. Matching Eleanor to the Flint family will be very welcomed by the Fawleys, who are almost extinct in the male line.” Lucius carried on.
“A fun fact for you, Harry.” Xerxes said with a grin. “Both the Fawleys and Floros’ are related to the Lestranges.”
Harry chuckled. “Nothing I wouldn’t expect.” He replied.
“Are you two done with your domestic dispute?” Rodolphus asked, standing up and coming to stand beside them.
“I believe so.” Harry nodded.
Rabastan nodded with him and immediately after, they each received a slap to the back of the head.
“That’s for being complete morons.” Rodolphus sniffed.
Harry grinned when the hand that had smacked the back of his head remained and ruffled his hair affectionately.
“Come along, Harry, or we’ll be late back to the Ministry.” Lucius insisted.
Harry hugged Rabastan and kissed him.
“I’ll see you soon and I’ll owl you right after I’ve finished the tutoring, just to put your mind at ease.” Harry said. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” Rabastan replied, pulling him back into a tight hug. It was then that Harry realised that it had been a while since Rabastan had had a spasm and he was holding him tighter with more confidence and he grinned wider. He was almost teary as he realised that Rabastan was getting better in almost indescribable ways, but he was getting better and it made him so happy.
Harry was forced to separate from Rabastan when Lucius cleared his throat and reminded him of the time.
“I have to go.” Harry said sadly. “I’ll miss you, but I’ll see you at Easter?”
“Of course you will. I can’t wait.”
“Alright, this is getting painful to watch now.” Rodolphus groused as he grabbed Harry, picked him up and handed him off to Xerxes and then took hold of Rabastan’s shoulders and steered him away.
Xerxes placed Harry back on the floor and laughed at his shell shocked face.
“Did he really just pick me up? Me, Lord Potter-Black, like some sort of miscreant peasant child?” He demanded in his best Wizengamot voice.
Lucius and Xerxes laughed at him and Harry grinned.
“Come along now, or we really will be more than acceptably late.”
“As if it’s not going to be more of the same.” Harry huffed. “I’d rather talk about these little meetings that Dumbledore wants us to have together.”
“I consulted a few people and sent you an owl back, had I known this meeting was coming so quickly, I would have held off and handed it to you directly. But I don’t think these meetings will be an entirely bad thing.” Lucius concluded.
“You don’t? I thought they’d be horrible and potentially dangerous.”
“They might well be, but it could prove to be very…informative.”
Harry clicked then and a surge of hot anger flared as he realised that Lucius had consulted Voldemort on these meetings and that he was being used as a spy.
“What if he curses me?” Harry demanded tightly, through gritted teeth.
“I know you, Harry.” Lucius said. “You’re my son now and I have the power to have you checked by specialist Healers at any moment without your permission as you are a minor in my care. It was how I was able to set up a Healer appointment this weekend without your knowledge or consent. If he dares curse you or dose you with anything, I’ll have him in prison before he can say ‘it was for the greater good’.” Lucius told him.
Harry took a deep breath and let it out. He’d see what these stupid meetings were about first and then he’d decide what he wanted to do. Just because Voldemort wanted him to spy on Dumbledore, did not mean that he had to tell anyone what information he’d found out in these so called ‘truce’ meetings. Not if he didn’t want to.
He sighed, letting out all the air from his deep breath and he calmed himself. He didn’t have to help anyone he didn’t want to and he didn’t have to share anything. Everything would work out fine and if it didn’t, he hoped that he’d be protected from the backlash, either by Lucius, by Rabastan or by himself.
His schedule was going to be really jam packed…if he had to put tutoring from Marcus, Healer visits and now Dumbledore’s meetings on top of all of his homework, his Wizengamot duties and Quidditch too, something was going to have to give sooner or later. At least now he didn’t have betrothal duties to attend too as well with his recent engagement to Rabastan, he really wouldn’t have been able to juggle in that as well.
He was going to have to start making a planned schedule for himself, like Hermione had used to do for her exam revision. Though he couldn’t really plan around the Wizengamot meetings as they all seemed to be very random and unplanned. Maybe he could put forward a bill or something to change that, so that the schedule was as planned and structured as much as possible with the exception of the emergency meetings, but there was no reason why trials and normal meetings couldn’t be planned in advanced or held at the same time every month. It would make things so much easier if he could plan around them.
The three of them made it back to courtroom seven and Harry gracefully sat himself back down. He was not looking forward to another several hours of debating back and forth over an issue that was so very clear to him now that the new, additional information had been revealed in the trial report. Mister Dennis Jute, Muggleborn he might be, but he had a chip on his shoulder from something to do with the Muggles and Harry was certain that he had meant to kill as many Muggles as possible on that night…he was not going to allow the full court of the wizarding world to let this man off of the ten year sentence to Azkaban. It was no less than the drunken brute deserved and Harry would not allow him to escape justice.
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A/N: A day late, but the read through for this chapter took a lot longer than usual as it is a very large chapter, but I was too busy yesterday to get it done, so it’s up today instead.

We have another chapter next week too, from the looks of things it’ll be chapter 3 of Tainted Blood, but those on Facebook will know more as it gets closer to the actual update day.
I hope you lovelies have all enjoyed this chapter, if you’re not reading any of my other works, then this will be my last chapter for a while. I’m taking the whole of November off for a break and I won’t be back until the New Year for this story I think, so I’ll see you lovelies then,
StarLight Massacre. X
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The Guile and Devotion of a Black Heir