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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
- 17
- 18
- 19
Last Time
Rodolphus took off out of Harry’s room as quickly as he had Rabastan’s, but not before he heard the quiet, heartfelt ‘thank you’ from Harry behind him. He cursed himself as a sentimental fool, perhaps Rabastan wasn’t the only one that Harry was making soft just by being around after all. The wretched little fluff head that he was.
Chapter Eighteen – Insight

Harry slept very late the next morning, he woke up, groggy and a little confused, covered in stale, gel like sweat. The events of yesterday afternoon came back to him slowly and he groaned, rubbing his eyes. He had half a mind to just go back to sleep, but he knew that that wouldn’t do any good and it wouldn’t solve anything either. Hopefully Rodolphus’ talk with his brother last night would have had time to sink in overnight.
Harry sat himself up and groped the bedside table for his glasses. He slipped them on and just took a few minutes to sit quietly before he scooted himself out of his bed and went to his dresser and wardrobe, collecting a pair of boxer-briefs, socks and an outfit before setting them out on his bed and then going into his en suite bathroom to run himself a bath so that he could wash himself…he could actually feel the grime layering his skin and it was very, very unpleasant. He was actually itchy it was that bad.
He didn’t soak for very long, he didn’t feel like it, instead he just scrubbed himself off and got out, wrapping a towel around his body and padding back to his bedroom.
He sat on his bed and just stayed there, he wasn’t truly thinking of anything, his mind was blank and he was staring at one spot without seeing it. He didn’t know why he was doing as such, he just was. He snapped out of it by himself after a few minutes of this silent staring and he took a deep breath, giving a small shake of his head for good measure before towelling himself off and then getting himself dressed and ready for the day, whatever it was going to bring.
He slouched down the stairs, not feeling like himself at all and he found Lucius in the front parlour. He sat near him, saying nothing, not even acknowledging anyone with his usual rounds of ‘good morning.’

“Are you feeling well?” Lucius asked as he watched him, unsettled by his rather odd behaviour.

Harry nodded. “I’m okay. I’m feeling a little strange, but I’m okay.”

“Strange how?” Rabastan asked him worriedly. Harry hadn’t even noticed that he was in the room.

Harry shook his head. “It’s hard to explain. Listless is maybe the best way to describe it.”

“Are you ill again? Have you come down with the flu again?” Rabastan asked, moving immediately to sit beside him and laying a hand over his forehead.

“No. I was very drained yesterday and I had a restless night.”

Rabastan flinched only slightly.

“Do you know why?” Lucius asked from his other side.

“Oh, I know exactly why. Too much thinking, not enough sleep and I was too uncomfortable with the night sweats and as soon as I noticed it, I couldn’t sleep properly afterwards.”

“Let me get you something to eat.”

“Yeah, great.” He said sarcastically. “Just what I need, that bone strengthening potion and a skull splitting headache on top of the headache that I already have.”

“Do not take that tone.” Lucius warned him. “I know that you are unwell, that you’ve been under considerable pressure and stress, but you need to take those potions and keep taking them regardless of anything else.”

Harry sighed and he rubbed his head. “I know, I’m sorry. I already have a headache and I know I’m going to be in a lot of pain until the effects of the bone strengthening potion wears off.”

“We’ll look after you as soon as you’ve taken it.” Lucius insisted. “There are a few stronger headache relievers that you can use for a very limited amount of time.”

“How limited?” Harry asked.

“They can only be taken every twelve hours and can’t be taken with anything else.” Rabastan told him.

Harry blinked and looked at him as if only just realising that he was there. He pulled his hand from Rabastan’s and shifted to put his back to him. He could almost feel the devastation coming from his Fiancé, but until he got an actual apology, he wasn’t going to accommodate him or his needs.
Harry was allowed to eat his dry toast in the front parlour, brought to him by Pimsey, who he thanked and gave a weak smile. She’d also brought him tea, exactly how he liked it without being asked, a small square of chocolate and the extra strong headache reliever, which was much darker in colour than he was used to.
He could almost feel the questioning stares as he was giving this small feast without asking for it, but he ignored everyone as he nibbled his toast and sipped his tea. It took him twice as long to get through his breakfast because he kept wincing and stopping to allow the throbbing in his head to ease off. He finally made it to the potion and he gripped his teacup in one hand and the potion in the other.
Taking a few breaths, he readied himself and threw the potion back and swallowed painfully, his eyes watering as he brought the tea up with his other hand and gulped it. Once he was done, he picked up the bit of chocolate and jammed it in his mouth to suck on it, so that the taste of the sweet chocolate took away the lingering taste of the vile potion.
Pimsey came back with a fresh, full cup of tea, again without being asked, and she curtseyed to him as she took away his tray with his empty cup and vial and the plate left on it.

“Thank you.” He said gratefully as he sat back and he could just enjoy his second cup of tea.

“How do you feel now?” Lucius asked him.

“Like I could vomit.” He bitched.

“The headache?” Lucius persisted.

“Still throbbing at my temples, but thankfully easing off, slowly.”

“Good.”

“It won’t last.” Harry said miserably. “As soon as the bone strengthening potion hits…”

“It should have taken the edge off, at least.” Lucius interrupted him.

Harry sat quietly, almost feeling the headache easing off, before he shot forward, his half full cup of tea tumbling to the floor while Harry cursed as his hand went to his right temple, pressing against it hard, as if he were trying to hold in his brain.

“The after effects?” Lucius questioned, ignoring that Harry had just spilled tea all over the carpet…it could easily be cleaned.

Harry nodded, bending down to pick up the cup, that had thankfully not broken as he did not want to deal with a lecture from Narcissa about breaking her fine china, regardless that a simple spell could put it back together. He pressed his other hand to his left temple as that started to throb too. A minute later he was clenching his hands into his hair and squashing his head between both hands as he tried to control the pain that he was feeling. It seemed a million times worse than normal.
Rabastan was holding him and Harry didn’t even care enough to push him off. He was growling and grunting through the pain though, trying to control himself as he did during the Wizengamot sessions, but he couldn’t put a lid on the pain, it was just too much for him to contain, he couldn’t control it and he couldn’t control himself.

“How can I help?” Rabastan asked, clearly not knowing what to do, but wanting to do something.

“Just knock me out.” Harry pleaded. “Let me sleep it off.”

Harry’s vision started blurring and he closed his eyes, screwing them up as the headache spiked and he actually retched.

“Calm yourself.” He heard Lucius coax. A hand was rubbing his back, one was cradling the back of his skull…that had to have been Rabastan.

“I can’t.” He insisted desperately, even as he retched again. “Just put me to sleep, please.” He begged. It wouldn’t be long before he was actually sick and he didn’t want to go through such a humiliating experience while his adoptive Father, his Fiancé and his in-laws watched on.

The next he knew, yet another potion was being nudged at his lips. Harry opened his mouth and swallowed dutifully as it was slowly trickled into his mouth. He retched again, trying desperately to hold his stomach in place and he shivered in revulsion at the taste.
It took a minute for this potion to work, it was a sleeping potion, and it knocked him right out.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

Rabastan held Harry tightly in his lap, worried and a little frightened as the Healer checked Harry over. The man had been sworn to his oaths to reveal nothing today, mainly about Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange, sitting calmly, if a bit worriedly, in the same room as Harry James Potter.
The Healer was nervous, almost petrified, but he was incredibly good at his job and he used it as an escape as he gently checked over the sleeping boy. When he’d first been sworn to his oaths, he’d believed that, once again, it was because he was to be dealing with Harry Potter, one of the most well-known figures in wizarding Britain. Now he knew better as he shifted his gaze once again to the terrifying image of the Lestrange brothers, who had escaped from Azkaban nearly a year and a half ago, sitting calmly in the room, silent as they watched his every move closely. It was unnerving, being under such close, silent scrutiny and because the two brothers were in the same room as Harry Potter himself. His usually rather sharp mind seemed dull and slow with the terror of being in the same room as the two Lestrange brothers as he tried to figure out what was happening.
Rabastan watched closely, critically, as the Healer waved his wand and prodded at Harry gently.

“He’s alright.” The Healer said and Rabastan bared his teeth and growled furiously.

“He’s not alright or he wouldn’t be like this!” He denied.

“He’s alright now.” The Healer said, a note of stress in his voice. “You said that he woke up with a headache? And that he had to take his bone strengthening potion almost before it was gone?”

“That’s right.” Lucius replied calmly.

“This is simply a case of him feeling far too much pain and it made him physically sick.”

“He has a very high pain threshold.”

“Everyone reaches a limit somewhere.” The Healer insisted. “Harry is already seriously sick, his normal threshold would be lowered because of that. The after effects of the bone strengthening potion might have knocked him out on its own today, without an additional headache beforehand. Let him sleep off the effects for now and let him rest when he wakes up. He is going to be fine if he just takes it easy and rests.”

“Are these potions working for him?” Lucius demanded.

The Healer did a few more checks. “They are yes, his bones are showing a marked improvement and so is his nutrition. He hasn’t missed any doses?”

“Not a single one.” Lucius replied promptly, trusting that if Harry had missed a dose, it would have immediately been mentioned.

The Healer nodded. “Then I would say that come early June, or maybe even late May, then he can gradually come off of them. He can start taking them every other day instead of every day and he can even stage them if he needs to, so that he is taking just one potion one day and another on a different day, to make the after effects easier for him to manage and if he carries on in this way, showing such good progress, then he’ll be off of them by June or July.”

Rabastan let out a relieved sigh and he petted Harry’s hair gently.

“He will enjoy that news.” He said, almost to himself as he focused his all on Harry in his lap.

He let Lucius see the Healer out. To be extra cautious the blond was going to remove certain memories of the Healer seeing him and Dolphus here, just in case, as he stayed with Harry, holding him and touching him, hoping to ease away his pain in his potion induced sleep.
He stroked Harry’s beautiful face with his other hand, trying not to notice how very pale he was. He was almost grey in colour and he hated that, in a way, he was responsible for it due to the stress that he had caused Harry yesterday. He just couldn’t control himself or his jealousy when other men started hovering and sniffing around Harry. He got scared that Harry would see someone better, someone stronger and that he would realise that he could have someone who was more handsome, someone who could lift him with ease and if he had prolonged contact with other men, then it would be easier for others to take Harry away from him.
He knew that Harry kept saying that he loved only him, that he didn’t want anyone else, but that was so easy to say, it was just words. Harry could easily have anyone that he wanted being as beautiful, as wonderful as he was and he was just so worried that one day Harry would meet someone else and realise what a mistake he’d made in staying with him.

“Stop it.” Rodolphus growled at him.

Rabastan blinked and stopped running his hand through Harry’s hair.

“Not that, you know exactly what I was referring to. Your thoughts were passing over your face as clear as day. He fucking loves you, Rabastan, stop ruining your own relationship!” Rodolphus hissed.

“I can’t help it.” He insisted. “I don’t want to lose him.”

“The only way that you’re going to lose him is by pushing him away yourself! Did my talk last night not sink in?” Rodolphus demanded. “Perhaps I need to beat it into you instead! I won’t see you continue to hurt him in such a way. I love you, you’re my brother, but I get so frustrated and angry when I see you being so fucking stupid and throwing away the greatest thing that’s ever happened to you.”

“I don’t want to drive him away.”

“Then show some trust in him, Rabastan! This jealous hovering is going to be the cause of him running away, not anyone else, not him meeting up with a thousand other men, but you. Stop it.”

Rabastan nodded and he went back to stroking Harry’s hair and watching over him, waiting for him to wake up. He had a lot of making up to do and he would need to work on his self-control. He couldn’t help it, but he didn’t want to be the reason that Harry turned from him. That would be worse than if Harry did meet someone else and leave him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

Harry woke up groggily, with the dazed feeling of a drugged, potion induced sleep. He groaned and rubbed his eyes and peered about him blearily.
He sat up and then went wandering, he was back in his bedroom, so someone must have put him back to bed after his incident that morning, but he was still wearing the outfit that he’d put on that morning, so he hadn’t been stripped or changed back into his pyjamas.
He made sure to pick up his calcium potion from where he’d left them on his living room table and he put it in his pocket before he went back down the stairs and he got a sense of déjà vu as he rubbed his eyes again, a little dizzy, but this time it was likely the lingering effects of being put into a potion induced sleep. The headache was just a distant, pain filled memory, he felt fine otherwise.
Unlike earlier that morning, he made his way to the dining room, where the rest of his family were sat eating. He heard them before he reached the room.

“Should I go and wake Harry? He needs to take his calcium potion.” Draco was fretting.

“Leave him a while longer, Draco. The potion should have worn off by now, he will wake up when he is ready and then he can have a light lunch and then take the calcium potion. He needs the rest.”

“I’m okay.” He rasped as he walked into the room, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Rabastan all but leapt up as if he’d been electrocuted and he came to him immediately, escorting him to the table and fluttering around him while Harry squinted up at him through eyes that weren’t quite focused enough, or even fully opened yet.
He was handed a glass of water and Harry took it and sipped, the coolness waking him up more effectively. He sighed and smiled.

“Thank you.”

“How are you feeling?” Lucius asked him.

“Better than I was this morning.” He said with a wry smile. “I am sorry about that.”

“How many times, Harry, you do not apologise for sickness, there is no need.” Lucius told him.

“Are you feeling better, darling?” Narcissa asked him.

Harry nodded as Rabastan settled beside him. “I do feel much better now that the headache has gone. I wish I could sleep through all of them, but the one this morning was several times as bad as normal. I just couldn’t handle it.”

“That is more than alright, Harry. Have something light and easy for lunch and then rest for a little longer.”

Harry nodded and he asked Pimsey, politely, for some pumpkin soup. He’d gotten a taste for it while he’d been unwell at Hogwarts. He ate slowly, but steadily, after she’d brought him what he’d asked for, as he dipped some seeded, whole wheat bread into the soup and nibbled on that too.
He ignored the close scrutiny that the rest of the table were giving him as he ate, particularly Rabastan who was sat beside him. He had not forgotten, nor forgiven, Rabastan for the fight on his first full day back home from Hogwarts.
Everyone else was already on their after meal cups of tea when Harry finally finished and he knew exactly what was coming as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a calcium potion. He unstoppered it and knocked it back with a screwed up face. He took the tea that Rabastan had made up for him and gulped it down, making an odd noise as he stopped for a breath.

“That one makes you sleepy, doesn’t it?” Draco asked.

Harry nodded. “Yeah, but I think I’ve slept enough now after my forced morning nap.”

“I do apologise about forcing a sleeping potion on you, but you were crying out for us to knock you out and put you to sleep.” Lucius told him.

Harry nodded his understanding. “I know, I remember. It was the best thing to do in that situation. It was probably the only thing possible to do in that situation. I’m glad to have woken up without the headache and the side effect of the potion worn off.”

“Are you in any pain currently?” Rabastan asked him worriedly.

Harry shook his head. “No, not at the moment.”

“I…about yesterday.”

“Don’t.” Harry replied bad-temperedly. “I’m not in the mood to hear anything about it just yet. At least let me wake up a little first and then we can talk about yesterday.”

Truthfully Harry didn’t want to talk about it at all. It was his, rather childish, wish that it had never happened in the first place. It felt like yet another blow to the gut to find out that Rabastan still didn’t trust him, that this issue still hadn’t been resolved despite Harry proving his innocence and his fidelity. Would he have to do so yet again? Would he have to take more Veritaserum and answer those questions again? If so would that become his life from now on? Taking Veritaserum every couple of months to prove that he hadn’t been sleeping around or messing with anyone else? Would their children be claimed as bastards until proven otherwise too? He just couldn’t take that sort of blatant distrust and humiliation. He touched a hand to his head as it gave a warning throb and he moaned softly.

“Surely your headache isn’t coming back?” Xerxes said, astounded.

“It’s trying to.” He said as he rubbed his forehead.

“Please, let me help.” Rabastan all but begged him.

“Help? I rather thought that you were the cause of it to begin with.” Harry snapped.

“Harry.” Lucius said in warning.

Harry held his hands up and said nothing more in a sign of surrender. He went back to rubbing his temples. He could almost see Rodolphus glaring at his brother, so it came as no surprise to him when Rabastan stood up and hefted him up too, and steered him away, to a small, intimate sitting room.

“Well it took you long enough.” Harry said as he sat himself down on one of the settees, still rubbing his head.

“You were waiting for me to drag you away to explain myself?”

Harry nodded. “Yes. As I was waiting during the Parkinsons winter gala for you to stand up for me, I was doing the same today. You don’t trust me and I am now having doubts that you actually love me at all. Perhaps this so called relationship is just following orders for you.”

“How can you doubt that I love you?” Rabastan asked, his face falling in devastation. “Of course I’m not doing this on orders. You were always worth more than that, right from the beginning. We were betrothed even before those orders came through! I love you.”

“It’s not a serious doubt, just a little niggle that refuses to go away. You’re not acting like you trust me, Rabastan, if you can’t trust me then there is no love.”

“I have told you before, I do trust you!”

“Oh yes, it’s everyone else whom you distrust, isn’t it?” Harry asked his eyes hardening dangerously. “It amounts to the same thing, Rabastan! I have proven myself, both in my purity and in being able to protect myself, why won’t you trust that I can look after myself, Rabastan? That if something, anything, happens that I can take care of it myself, as I’ve been doing for most of my life.”

“Because I love you and I don’t want anything to ever happen to you!” Rabastan replied, his voice straining in his upset.

Harry immediately sat forward and placed a comforting hand on Rabastan’s knee, silently supporting him as they had this out, once and for all. For what would be the last time, because if this issue ever came up again, then he would walk away…from Rabastan and their engagement, no matter how much it would hurt him to do so.

“That isn’t a realistic outlook, Rabastan.” He said gently. “Not everyone likes me and perhaps I will be caught off guard and get hurt, but there is nothing that anyone can do about that. You can’t wrap me up in cotton wool and lock me in the manor and never let me out. I am to be your husband, not your prisoner.”

Rabastan flinched and averted his gaze. “Is that how you see me? As a prison guard?”

Harry sighed. “It comes across that way, Rabastan. It truly does. You can’t dictate what I do or where I go, when or with who. How would you feel if I started doing it to you? Saying that you couldn’t talk to whomever you wanted, that you weren’t allowed to do what you wanted to do. It’s not a nice thing to do, Rabastan, it comes across as controlling and if allowed to continue, it could turn into abusive behaviour and I can’t allow it to continue.”

“You really think that I could be abusive towards you?”

“Not with fists or with spells, Rabastan, not physically, but mentally. If this is allowed to continue, then we’re not going to have any sort of relationship. You will be controlling me and I will come to resent you in time. I don’t want that, do you?”

“No, of course not!” Rabastan denied immediately.

“Then please stop this behaviour. I know it’ll be difficult, I know it’ll take work and some time, but please try to get over your insecurities and jealousy, I need you to trust me, to trust that I love you and won’t leave you because I won’t. I need to be able to come to you for everything, to tell you everything and at the moment I don’t feel like I’m able to. I don’t want you to shout at me or be upset just because I tell you things that maybe you don’t like or don’t want to hear. The stress of yesterday seriously affected me, to the point where I needed to be knocked out in order to recover this morning. It can’t happen again.”

“It won’t, I was so worried about you.” Rabastan told him, breathing out shakily. He shifted forward and placed his hands over Harry’s own. “I hate myself for causing you any sort of pain, but I can’t seem to help myself. I just…I couldn’t help myself when Flint came to take your time away from me.”

Harry smiled. “I know that this is our time, that we only have a small amount of time together before I have to go back to school, but I need this tutoring too, Rabastan. It’s only for a few hours every couple of days. The rest of my time will be with you, of course. I love you. I want to spend all of my time with you, but there are other things that I need to do too.”

“I understand.” Rabastan said, and he truly did too. He sighed and shifted himself until he was sitting next to Harry and he wrapped his arm around those slim, narrow shoulders. “It’s more difficult with Flint because I saw him kiss you, and then you were attacked by Rowle right afterwards, then Rowle attacked you again, seriously, just a week later.”

“And look what happened to Rowle when he attacked me in the downstairs bathroom, Rabastan, or have you forgotten that I broke his arm and blew off his leg?”

“No, I could hardly forget about that, Rodolphus brings it up often. He’s very proud of you for that display of power and ruthlessness.”

“I can take care of myself, Rabastan, I’m more than capable of looking after and protecting myself from others, I’ve been doing it for most of my life, with…with the not so great upbringing I had and then being pitched against Voldemort like a fucking weapon, I had to look after myself because no one else did.”

Rabastan froze, literally froze, and stared at him in horror as Harry voiced his Lord’s name and Harry rolled his eyes.

“Calm down, love. I refuse to call him anything so ridiculous as he-who-must-not-be-named or you-know-who and he’s not my lord. Voldemort was the name that he chose for himself, it seems to me that he wanted people to use it.”

Rabastan said nothing, so Harry chose to change the subject.

“Now, can we please put this behind us and start over, again.”

Rabastan nodded and the older man almost cheered to himself as immediately afterwards Harry turned to cuddle into his side, nuzzling his face against Rabastan’s chest.

“No more jealousy, no more trust issues, no more doubting my love.” Harry said into his robes, his voice slightly muffled as he refused to pull his face away from the fabric that it was pressed against. “I don’t want anyone else, I want you and it kills me inside to think that you don’t believe me when I’m being so honest and upfront.”

“I do believe you!” Rabastan said immediately. “You’re just so beautiful and so damned trusting! You see the good in everyone, even me and I know that people will take advantage of that and hurt you! I don’t want you to ever be hurt. I don’t trust other people not to hurt you or break your trust.”

“That’s up to them, Rabastan, if they want to betray my trust, then it’s on them, not me and certainly not you. There are going to be times where I’m going to need to put my trust in other people for things, perhaps even people who I don’t want to trust or whom I doubt, but I’m still going to need to put my faith in them for things that I need. If they turn around and betray me, then they’ll betray me whether you’re there or not, my love. But I can assure you that my retribution towards those who do betray me will play out much in the same way that it did for Rowle, the extent of the betrayal dictating the severity of the actions I choose to retaliate with, of course.”

Rabastan smiled at hearing that, but mostly he just relished having Harry sprawled over his chest again. He could touch Harry’s back and stroke his hair as Harry cuddled in tight, his arms around Rabastan’s waist, gentle fingers caressing his ribs, it felt so nice and he hummed gently.
He settled himself down and he sighed quietly, his arms pulling Harry just a smidgen closer. He never wanted anyone to betray Harry, but he also understood what Harry was saying, about it being out of their control and that it probably would happen, at least once, in the future. He would just have to be here when it did happen, to limit the damage or danger to Harry and to help him plan his perfect revenge, whether he chose to do it slowly over time, or quick and brutal as he’d done with Rowle, he would support Harry wholeheartedly, of that he swore.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

Bill Weasley looked critically at his battered and scuffed pocket watch before slotting it back into his robe pocket with an irritable sigh. He had five minutes left of his twenty-ninth consecutive shift at Gringotts bank and he was so tired and so tense that his shoulders and neck ached constantly and no amount of rubbing or frequent muscle relaxants helped alleviate the pain.
He rubbed at his sore, red raw eyes, knowing that rubbing them would make them worse, but being unable to prevent it as another jaw breaking yawn made them water annoyingly. He was so exhausted, so stressed, yet every time he thought of taking a break all he had to do was think of his Mother’s crumpled, worried face as he heard her sobbing at night, the both of them kept awake by the massive debt hanging over their heads.
He had immediately asked for as much overtime as he could get, working later on his normal shifts, offering himself up for the weekend shifts and even pulling double shifts, just to earn more gold to pay off Harry Potter and Lucius Malfoy. The thought that he was working all of this overtime, exhausting himself and making himself sick just for them, galled him, but it was to help his family and there was nothing that he could do about it.
He sighed again and groped in his pocket so that he could cast another weary eyed glance at his pocket watch. Time mocked him as it showed that not two minutes had passed since he’d last checked and he still had three minutes until he could leave, five hours after his usual shift had ended. He knew that he should just be thankful that the bank was busy and that there was overtime for him to work. Charlie had been unable to get much in the way of overtime, even being a senior handler didn’t help him much as there were enough of them to cover every hour of every day and the senior Dragonologist at the Romanian reserve had every single moment already covered and he didn’t need anyone else on duty unless one of the other handlers got injured or sick. Charlie had even offered to cover shifts at other reserves, of course it meant travelling to other countries to work with dragons that he didn’t know and who didn’t know him, which put him at elevated risk, but it was all Charlie could do in way of helping them to pay off the debt.
Bill yawned again and he daydreamed about stripping off his robes and just falling into bed. Of course he couldn’t do any such thing, as soon as he was done here he’d have to immediately pick up the ancient, dusty tome that he’d put down to come in for his extended shift at the bank and read up about more laws that were apparently as old as time itself if how backward they were was any indication, all to prepare himself for his first ever Wizengamot meeting, which could be at any moment now that his application had been approved at the end of March. He was almost grateful for it really, as it gave him a stipend every month that, combined with his wages from the bank, would go a long way to helping to clear the debt that Harry Potter had thrust onto them.
At dead on eight in the evening, Bill tapped his wand on his desk, signing himself out of work with his wand signature before he packed up what he needed to and then he left the bank, exhaustion making him slow and rather sluggish as he popped in on Fred and George, who were only just closing up their shop.

“Are you two alright?” He asked them in brotherly concern.

“Never better.” One, whom he believed was George, replied as he swept a hand over his forehead, tugging on his unwashed ginger hair.

“We’ve spent so much time researching that we barely have time to sleep.” The other told him.

“Is that where this came from?” He demanded worriedly as he touched his fingers just below a rather nasty cut on his brother’s cheek. Fred just grunted and knocked his hand away. “You can’t develop new things while tired, it’s dangerous.” He lectured.

“Says you whose been pulling triple shifts and hasn’t had a day off in a month and a half!”

“I’m on desk work.” He explained. “I’m not out in Egypt working with the tombs anymore. I’m doing research for the cursebreakers who send back patterns and need advice or I’m cataloguing treasure found in the tombs for the bank.”

“A pity you can’t just take a handful of gems and sell them.” One twin, George, groused.

“Theft from the goblins is still a death offence in their nation.” Bill said seriously, though with any luck he could change that ancient, unused law. It was diabolical that it was still a written law when it wasn’t used. It was one of the laws that Dumbledore had asked him to revoke while he sat on the Wizengamot.

“Not in ours.” Fred pointed out.

“Do you want to see me in Azkaban so much?” He demanded. “It’s bad enough that Ron and Ginny are thieves and we’re all paying the price for their actions, do you want our family to be remembered as a bunch of thieves with me in Azkaban?”

“No. I was just saying that a handful of gold or gems would help us out right about now. Of course I don’t want you in prison.”

“Mum told me about the pranks you’re pulling on Ron and Ginny too. It’s upset her.”

Fred immediately scoffed and George snorted. “It’s no less than they deserve for getting us into this mess! Dad was right, it’s their fault.”

“Harry could have spoken to us and worked things out another way.” Bill snarled. “There was no need for him to do this, to demand that we repay him formally for all the lavish junk that Lucius Malfoy bought for him! The basics would have done, he didn’t need all the extras as well. The Firebolt was enough on its own, without hand carved trunks and the finest thread count cotton robes.”

The two boys nodded their agreement to that.

“It was still Ron and Ginny’s fault though.” George said determinedly. “We won’t stop pranking them, they deserve to know that this is on them.”

“They already know.” Bill stressed. “Let them focus on their exams now so that they can at least get the best marks possible so that they can get better jobs. Mum’s already told them they have to get summer jobs to help out the family, leave them alone, at least until they’ve done their exams.”

The twins looked at one another for a moment and then they both nodded and Bill nodded back.

“Can I use your floo?” He asked.

“Sure, it’s through the back. We need to start our research for the night anyway.”

“Get some more sleep.” He told them seriously, eyeing up the bad cut on Fred’s cheek. “You can’t take risks with inventing spells or potions, you’ll end up killing yourselves, or each other.” He added, knowing that the possibility of killing their twin would actually sink through to them. It did as they looked at one another again, in distress this time, at his stern words.

Bill left the twins to themselves as he flooed back to his parents’ home and he didn’t even stop to take off his robes or boots or to even make himself a cup of tea. He went right up to his childhood bedroom and to the desk under the window and he sat down in the uncomfortable wooden chair and he cracked open the age spotted book that was almost as thick as his upright index finger.
He started reading where he’d left off early that morning, trying to take in the mind numbing words of men long dead and who had apparently been touched in the head as he read through their proposals that had been made into laws that still stood to this day. Dumbledore had been in the process of phasing out these old, useless laws or updating them so that they better fit modern needs, but he hadn’t gotten to finish even half of them before Harry had snatched the votes and the Chief Warlock title from his grasp and took up the seats himself.
He was way too young in Bill’s opinion, he himself barely understood what he was reading or what it actually meant, so he had no doubts that Harry, a young sixteen year old, had no clue what damage he’d truly done when he’d taken those seats from Dumbledore and then refused to give them back when asked. It was now up to him to try and fix things, to finish what Dumbledore had started and change all these backward laws and clauses and regulations that were so ridiculous that Bill couldn’t even imagine them being brought up in a case, let alone actually enforced as a law. The very thought of any of these so called laws being taken seriously was laughable.
It was his job now, given to him by Dumbledore, to change what he could and to remove those laws that couldn’t be changed or modified, as well as keeping an eye on Harry and Malfoy, of course. He needed to think on his toes and oppose anything that they put forward that could possibly be damaging, especially anything that derailed the betterment or advancement of Muggleborns. He went back to the book and read more about these ridiculous people with their ridiculous suggestions as he tried to keep his eyes open and from nodding off as he read boring tirade after boring tirade, knowing how important this was and how much the Order was counting on him for this.
What seemed like only moments later Bill woke up, his face almost glued to the musty book and he wanted to kick himself as he realised what had happened. He’d fallen asleep while reading and he couldn’t even remember doing it. He slid his pocket watch out of his robe pocket and closed his eyes in horror. It was quarter to eight in the morning, he was almost an hour late for his shift at the bank, he hadn’t eaten, showered or changed out of his robes from the day before. It was too much, it was all just too much and he couldn’t keep his head above the water as he slowly drowned in his workload.
Getting up, he stretched and decided to look at the silver lining here…at least he’d finally gotten some decent sleep. He decided to take a quick shower before grabbing something to eat and then going to make his excuses to the goblins, hoping that all of his overtime shifts had put him in good stead to apologise for missing an hour or so from his regular shift.
It was as he was in the shower however, that things started to go very badly wrong, as dead on eight in the morning, the ring he was forced to wear on his right hand heated up, alerting him that a Wizengamot meeting had been called. His very first meeting and it had been called while he was in the shower, covered in soap and shampoo.
He rinsed off as quickly as he could, he all but fell out of the bath as he lurched at his wand for a drying spell and he quickly hurried back to his bedroom to grab his best robes that he’d hung up and had ready for the last few months. It had been his last purchase, in the New Year, before that bill had arrived and they’d all had to cut back on their spending. He was sure that his parents were missing meals, but as he never caught them at it, because he was always in work, he couldn’t prove anything and when he asked, they both denied it. In his opinion that was a cut back too far, missing meals was going to do nothing but make them both ill.
He cursed as he realised that he was dangerously close to being late for this meeting and he almost forced his limbs into his robes and made sure that he had everything that he needed with him. He wasn’t ready for this, not by far, even as he Apparated to the Ministry for his first ever Wizengamot meeting as Lord Weasley, he wasn’t ready.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

Harry had spent the last few days just basking in Rabastan’s attention and that morning was no different as he sat with his legs twined around Rabastan’s as they finished breakfast. That was when Harry’s day took a bad turn, as his Lordship rings heated up just as he had swallowed down his bone strengthening potion and the standard headache reliever to take away the edge of the headache the former potion would give him.

“Not now.” He moaned as he rubbed his temples as the familiar pounding started in his head.

“What is it?” Rabastan asked concernedly.

“A meeting has just been called.” Xerxes informed his Grandson as he stood up and smoothened out the invisible creases in his robes.

“It will be fine, Harry, it’s just a normal meeting.” Lucius informed him. “You know from your early days that this is just a catch up meeting held every few months to keep us from being idle.”

“I’d rather stay idle.” Harry whined as he palmed his forehead and squeezed.

“In your current condition I would imagine that you would.” Lucius said dryly. “Fortunately we are unlikely to be debating anything of any kind this morning unless any proposals have been put forward of course, now come along. There is nothing that can be done about the called meeting and it would not do to be late. The sooner we arrive, the sooner you can come back.”

Harry nodded and he stood on wobbly feet. He steadied himself with the table, and with Rabastan’s hand at his back, before he turned to his Fiancé and cupped both of his cheeks and lowered his head to kiss him soundly.

“I’ll be back soon, my love.” He insisted.

Rabastan grinned at him, even as Rodolphus scoffed at their behaviour and Draco rolled his eyes.

“Make them all look stupid, Harry. Nothing makes me happier than hearing that you’ve successfully debated older people into a dead end or defended yourself from such verbal attacks. You make me so proud.”

Harry grinned and he couldn’t help ducking down for another kiss, his hands on Rabastan’s shoulders for stability. Rabastan’s hands lightly squeezed his waist and Harry regretfully pulled away.

“I’ll hopefully be back before lunch, be ready for snuggling because I’m going to need it.”

“Hurry up and leave before you make me vomit up my breakfast.” Rodolphus demanded.

Harry walked around the table and when he reached where Rodolphus was sat, he wrapped his back up in a hug, his arms around Rodolphus’ neck, planting a kiss on his cheek.

“Don’t worry, you’re still my favourite brother…in-law.” He added with a cheeky grin when Draco went to protest.

“Anytime today, Harry.” Lucius chided him.

“On my way.” Harry smiled, trying to bury the pain he felt under forced smiles and bright, cheeriness as he made it over to Lucius and allowed the man, who had summoned a robe that matched Harry’s shirt perfectly, to help him slip into said robe, before he took his adoptive Father’s arm as they were Apparated to the Ministry.

Harry had to hold on tight and really work to hold his stomach in place. He’d locked his knees to stop himself from hitting the floor and he was forced to rely on Lucius to walk him forward and Xerxes’ hand on his back to steer him as he focused his all on putting one foot in front of the other.
They stopped by the repaired Fountain of Magical Brethren and they started talking to one another softly, giving Harry a moment to calm himself and regain control. He was grateful for the scant few moments that he was allowed as he needed it to pull out his ‘Lord’ persona so that he could cover the dizzy wave of pain that Apparating had caused him.
Once he’d stopped seeing double, he lightly squeezed Lucius’ arm and took a half step away.

“Do you feel better?” Lucius asked him.

“Better? No, not at all. In control, yes.” He answered as he subtly lifted a hand to massage his skull.

“Let us take our seats in the meeting room then, so that you can sit down. You stay in between Xerxes and I.”

Harry nodded, it was usual these days for him to find himself sandwiched between Lucius and Xerxes. It had been the same ever since Xerxes, as the Head of the Lestrange family, had accepted the betrothal contract between him and Rabastan. It was almost like he was protecting his investment, as without him, Rabastan’s only suitor, the next generation of Lestranges would never be born. As the very thought of Rodolphus and Bellatrix sleeping together and having a baby was laughable, if a little terrifying, not least for the poor hypothetical baby born between them. That left only Rabastan to carry on the Lestrange name, Rabastan who was getting much better in recent months and had been made his Grandfather’s Heir shortly after they’d been betrothed, but he was still recovering from fifteen years in the maximum security cells in Azkaban and with Harry as his only suitor, the next generation of Lestranges were far from assured, because if the Lestranges lost him, they’d have nothing left to fall back on.
So Xerxes always being beside him in public seemed like he was protecting the next generation of Lestranges, at least Harry would have believed that Xerxes was merely protecting his ‘investment’ if he hadn’t seen exactly how much Xerxes actually liked him as a person, so perhaps now it as a little bit of both, protecting him as a person and protecting the future Lestranges.
They made it to the Wizengamot meeting room, with its ‘D’ shaped table, and Harry sat in one of the comfy chairs, once again flanked by Lucius and Xerxes. He smiled courteously and greeted those around him pleasantly, he only managed any true genuine feelings of pleasure when he greeted Lord Dawson Shacklebolt.

“You’re looking a little under the weather, if I may say so.” Lord Dawson said to him concernedly after their greetings.

“It’s nothing that won’t pass soon enough.” Harry assured him truthfully.

“Perhaps taking things a little easier would help, it can’t be easy to juggle these responsibilities and your school work too.”

Harry didn’t take any offense at that, he instead saw it for what it was, genuine concern from a man who was a father and grandfather himself.

Harry chuckled lightly. “Yes, I have found that out for myself. I overdid it last term and fell sick as a result. I have since cut back where I can, in order to focus more on my health after I was reminded that yes, it is the most important thing.”

Lord Dawson chuckled deeply. “Ah, the infallibility of youth, thinking that you can all take on the world and come out the victor. At least you have learned young about such follies.”

Harry inclined his head with a grin. “Indeed. Well this time the world hit back and gave me the flu, even then I still tried to struggle on through it, playing it off as a mere cold, but I’ve since learned that taking it easy doesn’t mean giving in or admitting defeat. Sometimes travelling at a slower, calmer pace can reveal things that weren’t to be seen at a faster, more strenuous pace.”

Lord Dawson shook his head. “You truly are a marvel. Lucius, your son has come a very long way indeed.”

Lucius smirked before looking at Harry in pride. “He has, I agree. I could not be more proud of him.”

Harry wanted to grin like a fool, but he controlled himself. He always liked hearing such declarations and he couldn’t quite help himself as his back straightened more and his hands clasped together in front of him on the table, being sure to keep his elbows off, of course, remembering Narcissa’s lessons well, tables were for hands, not for elbows or feet.
It seemed that they were all waiting around a little longer than usual and Harry wondered why, right up until someone hurried into the room and all but dived into the last remaining seat…they’d been waiting for a late straggler.
Harry could not have been more surprised if Voldemort himself had walked into the room as he realised that the latecomer was Bill Weasley. Lucius’ extra deep breath and Xerxes’ sharp inhale of surprise let him know that this had come as news to the both of them too.

“I can call you all to order, now that you’re all present.” Runcorn said dispassionately.

Harry, who had been staring at Bill, watched him flush in embarrassment. Harry probably would have done so too, if he had been so late to such a summons, and on his first meeting too.

“It is Wednesday the twenty-sixth of March, at twenty past eight in the morning, I welcome you, esteemed Lords and Ladies of the wizarding world, and Heads of all reputable Departments of the Ministry of Magic. Today we welcome Lord William Weasley, in place of his Father, who is unable to claim the family Lordship due to a blood traitor status. Lord Weasley has denounced his family ways and has, in his heart, disowned the named traitor, Bilius Weasley.”

Harry blinked in surprise before he narrowed his gaze. There was no way that Bill had parted from his family or their beliefs, he’d only known Bill, and Charlie for that matter, for a short amount of time, but out of the two of them, Bill had been the biggest advocate of his family. He felt responsible for them because he was the oldest. Harry didn’t believe for one moment that Bill had gone against his Father’s wishes and denounced Bilius Weasley or that he cared a damn about their blood traitor status…if anyone from that family were to do as such, he would have expected it to be Charlie or even Percy, but not Bill.
Looking at Bill now, in his clean cut robes, his hair brushed and tied back and his fang earring absent, Harry barely recognised the man who refused to allow his Mother to cut his hair. It just didn’t seem right, something really was wrong here.

“This Wizengamot truly is going to shit.” Xerxes growled under his breath. “First the Mudblood Heads of Department, now blood traitors sworn in on a technicality!”

Harry turned his head sharply and gave the man a stern look.

“Oh, of course your delicate sensibilities would rear up over this, wouldn’t they? I suppose you believe everything that you’re told, don’t you?”

“I believe he was pointing out your politically incorrect use of the derogatory term for Muggleborns while in this room.” Lucius pointed out icily. “Regain control of your anger or risk looking a fool.”

Xerxes clenched his teeth and his fists, but he started breathing deeply and calmly to regain control of himself. Several moments later he placed a hand on Harry’s knee and squeezed gently, offering a wordless apology for snapping in his anger. Harry nodded his head once, to acknowledge the apology and to accept it. He could very well understand why Xerxes was upset, why any of the Purebloods would be upset over this, as he had the feeling that Bill was lying, just to get himself in on the Wizengamot meetings. There was only one reason that Bill would have thought to have done this, and it just reeked of Dumbledore’s meddling interference.

“Our first order of business today is to discuss a proposal anonymously dropped into my tray about magical creature control. This proposal was deeply lined with prejudice and discriminatory language and urges us, this Wizengamot, to impose even stricter laws upon all those who have been classed as magical creatures, including but not limited to, werewolves, vampires, veela and faeries.” Albert Runcorn started, reading from the parchment in front of him in a full monotone that clearly indicated his boredom and lack of passion in the proposal. “Would anyone like to start this session with an opening statement?”

Harry closed his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to shove away the pounding headache so that he could focus on the matter at hand as immediately after Runcorn stopped speaking little hissed whispers of conversation started up all around the room as people discussed the outlined proposal with their neighbours.
Unfortunately for Harry anger always made his head hurt worse and that was exactly what was going to happen if he was forced to debate an argument with some of the more idiotic, prejudiced members of the Wizengamot.
He cleared his throat and caught the attention of Runcorn, who nodded his head and indicated towards him.

“This body recognises Lord Potter-Black and will hear him.”

“I was merely wondering what this new proposal suggested in way of stricter control.” He inquired politely. He wanted to know who had even thought that the magical creatures needed even stricter control upon them and exactly how it was even possible when it seemed to him that they were already controlled to the point of slavery, as they could hardly take a single step without being told to do so. The very thought of even more restrictions being placed upon them all as a whole, when they already had so much of their own lives dictated to them, was utterly vile in Harry’s opinion and he was very curious as to how the person who had written this proposal thought that there could be even more restrictions and controls placed on them all when there was literally nothing else that could be done to supress them any more than they already were.

Runcorn looked down, shifted several pieces of parchment and picked up what was obviously the very proposal that they’d been speaking of. Harry waited patiently as Runcorn found the correct passage.

“Ah, here we go.” He said. “I am sure that most members of this body will agree that this proposal is nothing more than belligerent bilge submitted by a bigot who was too afraid to even put their name to their own proposal.” Runcorn said before clearing his throat and reading from the parchment. “…the suggestion for the control of these half breed animals is sterilisation to prevent breeding more of their kind, then confinement or imprisonment for the safety of others or, if accused of any crime, immediate, unhesitant execution with no need for a hearing or trial.”

Harry was so shocked that he was sure that his mouth was gaping open. He thought to Remus, imprisoned merely for being a werewolf having done absolutely nothing wrong and his fist clenched tight. Headache or not, he would debate this until his dying breath if he needed to. It would not pass.

“I took the liberty of copying this proposal so that you might all look at it in full detail.” Runcorn informed them as he pulled out a folder from the piles across the straight edge of the table, where he had the whole side to himself, and with a wave of his wand, he sent the sheets of parchment flying out to each member at the table.
When Harry received his, he started reading it with mounting horror and disgust. The proposal included all humanoid magical creatures, as apparently werewolves and vampires were no longer to be classed as human beings worthy of emotions or compassion it seemed, but it also suggested stricter control over those born as magical creatures too, which included veela, faeries and drackens.
The level of sheer hate and disgust of the proposal was almost palpable and Harry had read enough. He sat forward, his shoulders thrown back as he puffed up his chest and he mentally prepared himself to spend all day debating this if he had to. He was not, while he lived and breathed, going to allow this proposal to pass, and if it did somehow pass then he would appeal it and appeal it until everyone came around to his way of thinking, or at the very least got so sick of him bringing it up that they agreed to revoke it just to shut him up, but he didn’t care. He would not allow this vile proposal to come into law.

“This body recognises the eagerness that our youngest member has to get this debate started, so we will open this debate with Lord Potter-Black.” Runcorn said with a smile at him. Harry could almost see the pride that this man had in him, it was the same with some of the other members too, a lot of them had gained a marked respect for him after he’d successfully put Dennis Jute in Azkaban.

“I agree with our Chief Warlock that this proposal is nothing more than a bigot trying to spitefully ruin the lives of others whom they feel is inferior to themselves, merely because of additional creature blood.” Harry started off calmly and concisely, not letting his anger rush or muddle his words. “The laws surrounding these people are already far too tight and restrictive as it is, but to actually suggest that they are sterilised and imprisoned merely because of their creature status is horrendously unjust. That anyone would even think of executing others without a trial or even a cursory hearing has, I admit, deeply shocked me. In what sort of world do we live where there are those who believe that this sort of discrimination against living, breathing people is acceptable? Where these proposals can actually be considered being made into law through fear, hatred or disgust? I dislike frogs, perhaps I should put in a proposal about them all being rounded up and killed off under a new law, merely because I dislike them.”

“It is not the same thing!” Someone answered. “These creatures are dangerous beings, we are not talking of frogs, but of werewolves and drackens, creatures that are breeding others like them, their numbers are growing in recent decades, they are killing more humans, they need controlling!”

There were quiet murmurs of agreement from some and Harry had to hold a powerful wave of hot anger back to keep from screaming at the sheer stupidity and utter cruelty of these people who were actually in a position to have this proposal passed into an actual, enforceable law.

“You are speaking of them as if they aren’t people.” Harry pointed out. “As if they have no thoughts or feelings.”

Someone scoffed at that and Harry narrowed his eyes on the one person he was hoping to avoid, lest he give something away in his anger…Lord Philip Nott. The elderly, spiteful swine that was more concerned about gold and prestige than he was about his only child’s happiness.

“I suggest that if Lord Nott has something to say, then he should share with the rest of us.” Harry said in a mimicry of graciousness.

“I am merely astounded that someone, anyone, can see these beasts as people with thoughts and feelings.” Lord Nott said in a mocking tone. “How can something that can turn into an animal be seen as a person?”

“I confess utter surprise at Lord Nott’s thoughts on this matter.” Harry replied immediately. “I believe that I have seen your name on the registered Animagi list, Lord Nott, are you suggesting that you yourself, who can turn into an animal, are not a person?”

Xerxes coughed to cover a burst of surprised laughter and Harry heard Lucius chuckle quietly beside him. Lord Nott went a brilliant shade of red.

“How dare you suggest as such!”

“I did not suggest as such, you did, Lord Nott.” Harry pointed out innocently.

This time Xerxes’ laughter was a little more defined under his cough and Harry had to work hard not to let his lips twitch.

“It is entirely not the same thing!” The elderly man spat. “I have gained a higher control of magic in order to become an Animagus, it is a learned skill. I do not turn into some mindless beast because of the phases of the moon or because I was born as such!”

“Your exact words, Lord Nott, were ‘how can something that can turn into an animal be seen as a person.’ I would like to point out that you did not define the animal or person type nor did you exclude Animagi from your broad statement.”

“Becoming an Animagus is a learned form of magic! It is not a curse brought on by a bite or tainted blood!” Lord Nott roared. “It is not the same thing.”

Harry inclined his head before turning back to face more centrally.

“As I was saying, these people have thoughts and feelings. They are living, breathing people and to treat them otherwise is a disgusting condemnation of typical stereotypes that we, as a whole, should be more intelligent to realise are completely false.”

“They have the tools to infect or kill anyone they please!” Someone else said, slamming their palms onto the table top.

“So do I.” Harry replied calmly. “I could leave this room, go to the Atrium of this building and kill anyone and everyone in it, if I so chose. As could each and every one of you in this room, if you so choose. Perhaps these proposed laws should apply to everyone. Perhaps we should all be locked up and confined because we have the tools to kill whomever we please. Perhaps we should all be put up for execution with no hearing or trial or even a chance to defend ourselves and our actions merely because we have the potential to do harm to others.”

“That isn’t the same thing!”

“Oh, is it not?” Harry replied, a hint of anger to his tone seeping in. “Forgive me, but I see it as exactly the same thing, how is it not?”

“I believe, my son, that the difference is the choice that is to be made.” Lucius told him.

Harry turned to look at him curiously.

“If you went out into the Atrium and killed all within it, that is your choice to make. A werewolf for example, who is not under the effects of the wolfsbane potion, will completely lose their minds during a full moon and has no choice but to follow the instincts of their animal side. A vampire who has not fed can turn crazed with bloodlust and kill the person they are feeding upon in their starved desperation.”

“I see your point, Father.” Harry conceded. “But there is also the fact that many werewolves lock themselves up on the night of the full moon or remove themselves from civilisation to prevent such attacks. As for the vampires, all that example proves is that our regulations in dealing with them don’t work and we need to be more open minded in the way that vampires are dealt with and how their need for blood is addressed. My point was that why should they be punished for something that they have not done just because they have the potential to do it. I have the potential to go to the Atrium and kill others, as does everyone sat at this table, should I be punished for the potential to do something even though I have not actually done so?”

“I agree with your point.” Lucius replied. “I was merely assisting your understanding of the aforementioned hypothetical situation.”

Harry nodded his head and once again sat centrally and looked out at the other members of the Wizengamot.

“We are not at liberty to strike at others preemptively merely because they have magical creature blood, such discriminatory behaviour should not be tolerated in society and such stereotypes have no place in our world.”

“It’s not a stereotype if it’s true!”

“It is not true that all magical creatures act in the same way, nor is it true that they all think the same way or believe in the same things. They are people just like us and just like us, they all differ in their thoughts and beliefs.” Harry replied sternly. “No two living creatures, including people, are the same or act in the same manner and to think otherwise is to be purposefully ignorant of basic living behaviours and ignorance is not a basis for an argument to be put forward in agreement with this proposal.”

“Very well said, Lord Potter-Black.” Runcorn nodded. “Would anyone else like to join this discussion either for the proposal or opposing it?”

“My argument is for the proposal.” A woman spoke up. “We need to think of the children when considering this proposal as a law. They are our greatest gift and they are without the means to defend themselves.”

“And how, Madam, do you think this proposal will help the children?” Harry asked mildly.

“By locking those monsters up before they can harm our children!” She replied.

“You believe this to be the best possible way to defend the children of this world? To lock up innocent men and women who have not done anything wrong?” He asked, making sure his stunned surprise could be heard clearly in his voice. “What of the other dangers to children? Should we ban Quidditch in case they get hurt? Should we remove Transfiguration from the curriculum in case a stray spell hits them? Should we never teach them to Apparate in case they are splinched? Perhaps you are suggesting that the children are wrapped up in cotton wool and never allowed outside again?”

“I am merely asking...no, begging that this body thinks of the defenceless children when voting on this proposal. Even if they can be hurt in other ways, this is something that we can do to prevent at least one danger from being able to harm them.”

Harry narrowed his eyes as he met his match in the meeting. There was no way that he was going to give up, however. Not ever.

“We cannot blame all of them for the heinous actions of a few.” He said angrily. “There are risks around every corner that threaten everyone, not just children or innocent bystanders. If we start to travel down this road, where will it end? If we vote to write this proposal into law and we round up all the magical creatures, tag and sterilise them and then throw them into prisons, what next under the vague, blanket excuse of ‘oh but the children?’ Attacks on children by magical creatures is rare, it is not an excuse to stir up fears over child safety just to pass this vile proposal into law, Madam.”

“Perhaps Lord Potter-Black is saying that he does not care about children?” Lord Nott cut in.

Harry so badly wanted to scream at him that he didn’t even care about his own child, let alone others, but he couldn’t spoil Theo’s surprise. It was Theo’s revenge to take, not his, no matter how badly he wanted to shout it from the heavens so that everyone knew that this vile, cruel, heartless man had threatened to disown his own son if he didn’t marry the tramp of house Greengrass for her, rather considerable, dowry.

“He is saying that attacks on children by magical creatures are rare, of which they are.” Dawson Shacklebolt said. “Not that he doesn’t care about children, as I’m sure that he does, as do we all.”

Harry inclined his head in agreement. “I do care, of course, but accidents happen.” He insisted. “It is unavoidable that…

“They are not accidents or unavoidable if we can do something about it now, to save the future children of such horrors!”

“Condemning hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent people to imprisonment after suffering through forced sterilisation is not an answer!” Harry said sternly. “What if such things were reversed and magical creatures were the majority and they voted on our lives as coldly and callously as you are doing now. How would you feel if you were rounded up just for being human, forcibly sterilised so that you couldn’t ‘breed’ and then imprisoned having done absolutely nothing wrong in your entire life?” Harry demanded, using his fingers to quote the vile use of the word breed in such a context. “They have the potential to do harm, as does absolutely everyone in this world, that doesn’t mean that anyone should be punished for it before they’ve done anything wrong. It is different if they are planning to do something and are caught in the act, but if they are neither planning to do as such, nor would ever do as such, how can they possibly be punished for it? They haven’t done anything wrong!”

“Have you never heard of Fenrir Greyback?” The woman demanded. “How he specifically targets children? How he goes out of his way to harm others? How he relishes in killing and maiming? He is…”

“He is one man.” Harry cut in firmly. “You cannot hold others accountable for his actions or behaviours! It is not for us to imprison all magical creatures because of him, it is for the inept Aurors of this Ministry to catch him, and him alone, to hold him accountable for his own actions!”

“They’re all as bad as…”

“I sincerely hope, Madam, that you are not ridiculous enough to try and tell this body that one person dictates the actions of all the others.” Harry cut in furiously. “They are not all the same, just as we are clearly not the same. I refuse to be lumped into the same category as the criminals rotting in Azkaban just because they’re the same species as I am! It is the same principle here and I will not allow children to be used as an excuse, nor the atrocious claim that ‘they’re all as bad as one another’ falsely insinuating that every one of them is the same as the very few who have attacked or done harm to others.”

Everything was silent within the meeting room, the silence stretched on and then Runcorn cleared his throat.

“If no one has anything to add?” He waited several more moments before nodding. “Then let us vote on this matter. Raise your wands if you are in favour of this proposal to be made into law.”

Harry looked around as calmly as he could while his heart was hammering in his chest, trying to come across as confident and not at all worried or anxious about the voting. It was too close to call, so many people had actually voted for this proposal to go through into law, many more than he’d been expecting. He took an extra deep breath to control himself. If this law passed he would not make a spectacle of himself, instead he would remain calm and dignified and he would legally appeal it.

“All those opposed to making this proposal into law.” Runcorn asked them.

Harry calmly reached for his wand, drew it out and thrust it unhurriedly into the air.

“All those without an opinion or cannot decide.” Runcorn called out, once he realised that the votes did not add up to the amount of people in the room. Sure enough three wands were raised into the air and he added them to his parchment. “This proposal has been denied twenty-nine to twenty-one, with three abstaining from voting in this matter.”

Runcorn picked up a stick of black wax, stuck it over a candle beside him and let three globs of the black wax fall onto the bottom of the proposal before he selected one of a dozen brass stamps in a holder in front of him and he held it down into the wax. He put the proposal into a tray and left it there before putting back the stamp and the stick of black wax.

“Onto our second call of business for the day.” He carried on easily. “There is an allegation of theft from Gringotts. The goblins caught the wizard trying to break into a vault that was not his own, but belonged to his Wife, who refused him access to her vault. The wizard in question has invoked human law in this matter, and thus it is referred to us instead of having the goblins handle such matters. We shall now debate on the course of action to take.”

“It was his Wife’s vault. Surely he should have been able to have access to it. This matter shouldn’t even be brought before us.” Lord Parkinson suggested.

Harry wondered then if nearly everyone around him was a complete dullard or if it was because he was the only one who saw everyone, no matter their gender or species, as equal.

“Are you truly going to be so sexist as to suggest that just because a woman has married that her property immediately defaults to her Husband?” Dawson Shacklebolt asked tersely.

“I am saying that her Husband should have had access to her vault. They are a married couple. I suppose that she has access to his vault, why should he not have access to hers?”

“You don’t know that she has access to his vault.” Dawson pointed out. “Only that she has barred him from her vault and he then tried to break into it.”

“They are married! He should have access to his Wife’s vault!” Someone called out, backing up Lord Parkinson.

“What century are you living in?” One of the Muggleborn Heads of Department called out. “Are we going backwards here? Are we slipping away from gender equality?”

“It is not a question of gender equality, they are a married couple!”

“Perhaps they are separating and she was putting aside provisions for herself.” Harry suggested mildly. “Either way, there is no question here, she had her own bank vault for whatever reasons that are absolutely her own and her Husband was trying to break into it, knowing that he didn’t have access. This is a problem for the goblins to sort out, not for this body.”

There were gasps as if he had suggested that dragons were as harmless as baby rabbits.

“The punishment for trying to enter a vault that you do not own is death in the goblin nation, Harry.” Lucius told him gently. “They take such things very seriously.”

“Perhaps this wizard should have thought of such things before he tried to break into someone else’s bank vault.” Harry said simply. “The goblins own the bank, everyone knows that you never try to steal from Gringotts because of the repercussions of it, there is a warning carved into the very doors of the bank that all can see and read before they even enter the main hall of the bank. The way I see things is that the goblins own the bank, it is theirs to defend in any way that they see fit, this wizard should fall to them for his punishment, whatever that might be.”

“We are not handing a wizard over to the goblins to execute!” One member shouted out, as if the louder he shouted the more he could sway others to his way of thinking.

“No? Why not?” Harry asked. “He has committed a crime against the goblins by going into their bank and trying to steal from them. It is their reputation that he has threatened, their very livelihoods. When you walk into Gringotts, you are subject to goblin law, as such, it seems to me that they didn’t even have to inform the Ministry of their intent to punish him. It is their right to do so.”

“That law is outdated and should be removed from use.”

Harry looked up and locked eyes with Bill. This was the first time that he had spoken, having chosen to merely watch the previous debate, though he had voted with Harry on opposing the proposal for a change in the magical creature laws.

“Oh? What do the goblins think about the removal of this law? It is their law, after all, having been one of the founding laws that the goblin, Gringott, was most insistent upon when the bank was first built in the fourteen hundreds. It was one of the accepted stipulations when the magical population decided to use it as their own bank in the first place. I do not think that the goblins would be overly happy to hear that one of their founding laws is being debated in this manner without a representative present.” Harry pointed out simply.

“The goblins never enforce the law.” Bill argued. “As with this case it is always referred back to wizarding laws.”

“How often do people try to break into a Gringotts vault?” Harry asked.

“Not often, but…”

“When was the last known case?” Harry interrupted.

“Back in nineteen-ninety-one.” Bill said immediately. “The person was unsuccessful…”

“I believe that that culprit was never caught either.” Harry smiled sweetly, knowing that it had been Quirrell acting on the orders of Voldemort who had tried to get the Philosopher’s Stone, having failed because Hagrid had picked it up just hours before on the very same day.

“No, the culprit got away.”

“What do you think the goblins would have done if they had apprehended the culprit? Do you think it would have been exactly the same as this case? I do. If that culprit had been caught then exactly the same would have happened and I fully believe that the goblins, as the owners of the bank, should be able to enforce their own laws in their own bank as the founding laws, that still stand legal to this day, have stated for the last five hundred years!”

“That is an actual law?” One woman, a Department Head, asked in shock.

Harry nodded his head. “It is a legitimate law and we are here to uphold the law in the fullest, not to pick and choose which ones we follow.”

“Could you point out this law to me, Lord Potter-Black?” Runcorn asked. “If it is an actual law as you have stated, then this matter is indeed out of our hands.”

Harry smiled at the Chief Warlock. “Certainly. It is…”

“You cannot be serious! A wizard given over to be executed by the goblins! It is outrageous!”

“Yet it is the law.” Harry pointed out. “We are here to uphold all of the laws, not to pick and choose which ones to follow, and the laws of this matter are defaulted back to the goblins. Chief Warlock Runcorn, the laws on this matter are set in the founding partnership of Gringotts bank and the Ministry of Magic when the goblins agreed to accept human clients for the first time. I am sure if you sent for the information from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement that you will find that I am correct in this matter.”

“We will be taking a small, five minute break ladies and gentlemen.” Runcorn told them before pulling a piece of purple memo paper towards him and writing a quick letter upon it before tapping it with his wand where it folded itself into a plane before zooming out of the room.

“How did you hear of such a law?” Xerxes asked him as two dozen little hissed conversations started up around them.

“You know, I only read about it the other week in a library book. I was looking up information on the Wizengamot, for that issue that I wrote to you about, over the Council of Magical Law thinking that they were above this body. I came across a book of old laws and I thought that it was rather interesting, not to mention informative to read about which laws are still legal to uphold, so I read a large portion of it. What a funny coincidence.”

“You are so ruthless, I adore you.” Xerxes told him.

Harry laughed happily and shook his head. “It’s not really anything to do with ruthlessness, I just don’t want anyone to get off with such crimes when there are already laws in place to deal with these issues. It isn’t our jurisdiction to deal with this, it is the goblins’ bank, it is up to them to deal with such things. It’s just like if someone breaks into my home, I am well within my rights to deal with them myself before calling in the Law Enforcers, why should the goblins have any less of a right to take care of anyone who foolishly tries to break into one of their vaults?”

“You are going to become very popular with the goblins, I believe.” Lucius said.

“I’m not doing this to get in with anyone, it’s the right thing to do.” He insisted before changing the subject. “What is the time, please?”

“It is a quarter to eleven, Harry, why do you ask?” Lucius asked him after he’d slid his pocket watch from his top robe pocket to quickly check the time for him.

“I’m just checking that I have ample time before I have to take my next potion.” He insisted. “I’m so used to taking them that I’m always hyperaware of the time. Being here I’m not too sure that it’s polite to cast a tempus charm in the middle of a meeting. I don’t like not knowing what time it is, just in case I miss a potion.”

“You have enough time, I won’t allow you to miss a dose.” Lucius insisted.

“So much for this being just a meet and greet with no debates though.” He chuckled tiredly as he subtly rubbed his throbbing head.

“I forgot that you would have a headache, you’ve done so well today that I almost believed that there was nothing wrong with you.” Xerxes told him looking worried.

“No, it’s still pounding away at both temples, it is really difficult to ignore it too. I’m getting through this by sheer force of stubborn will.”

“Then it’s a good thing that you have plenty of stubbornness to spare.”

Harry chuckled. “Indeed. Unfortunately this is going to knock me back for today at least. It’s a good thing that I told Aceline to be ready for cuddling, I’m going to need it.” Harry said pointedly.

“She will take care of you, I’m sure.” Xerxes said knowingly.

Harry grinned. “She better, she has a lot of making up to do.”

Harry looked down at his engagement ring and he sighed happily, lifting it to his mouth and kissing it gently.

The meeting was unofficially called back to order after another purple memo plane came zooming in to Runcorn, who snatched it from the air, unfolded it and read what was inside. Harry saw the small, hint of a smile before it was gone and Runcorn cleared his throat and sat up straighter.

“Ladies and gentlemen, if I can call you back to order.” Runcorn called out clearly, as if everyone in the room wasn’t already deadly silent and staring at him, waiting for the answer. “Our meeting shall now resume, at five to eleven in the morning on Wednesday the twenty-sixth of March.” He said more ceremonially rather than reminding those in the room what day it was. All meetings were recorded on paper after all and it was the Chief Warlock’s job to make sure that all meeting papers were clearly set out for quick review if needed at a later date.

Runcorn kept them in suspense after that, as he wrote something down meticulously on a piece of parchment. Several people shifted anxiously, but Harry remained calm and relaxed. He knew that he had the right of things, he knew and understood what he’d read. As such he didn’t shift or fidget like a worried, nervous child. Instead he sat straight and strong, a blank smile on his face as he put his hands in his lap.

“The Head of the law division in the Department for Magical Law Enforcement, has written me back and he has informed me that Lord Potter-Black’s information is indeed correct.”

There was an outcry from several people around the table, but Harry sat calmly and stoically, the small, blank smile still on his face.

“It is still written into law that all matters of Gringotts business, including dealing with trespassers and thieves, defaults to the goblins.” Runcorn called out. “We are here to uphold the law as it is written! Not in the way that we choose to interpret it.”

“That law hasn’t been enforced in the last hundred years!” Bill called out desperately.

“Only because this is the first treacherous person to be caught in that time.” Harry said calmly. “Not very many are stupid enough to try and break into a vault at Gringotts. The last one to be caught was in eighteen-ninety-two. Since then no one has been brainless enough to try, except for the culprit who got away in nineteen-ninety-one. This is the first case since then and that law is still perfectly legitimate and thus it is enforceable. It is our job to uphold it lest we offend the goblin nation and be the cause of the first goblin rebellion since the nineteenth century! I for one will not be responsible for such, this is a case for the goblins to sort out as they see fit! Based on the written law they didn’t even need to inform us that they had arrested this trespasser, they did that out of courtesy, likely not expecting this whole railroad where the wizards try to take over their business, going back on their own laws.”

“That is a breach of law that will be fully investigated.” Runcorn insisted. “Now that this law has been uncovered and unburied from the depths that had been taken to hide it, it will be enforced as it is a legitimate law. This case is now being referred back to the goblins, who are within their legal rights to do with their prisoner as they see fit.”

“You cannot be serious!” Someone yelled out. “He is a wizard of this country! We can’t just turn him over to be executed by such filthy beasts!”

“The goblins will also be receiving a copy of this body’s discussion for context, I do hope that you didn’t have much in your vault that you wanted to keep.” Runcorn said blandly.

Harry almost laughed, instead he cleared his throat and wiggled around a little bit as he tried to hold back his laughter.

“This concludes our meeting for this morning. All discussions have been carried out and voted upon. Please keep your rings upon your fingers at all times to hear of the next meeting. Barring an emergency, I will be seeing you all at the small get together in the next month. Good day to you all.”

Runcorn officially ended the meeting and Harry stayed sat for a moment, before he stood and rolled his aching shoulders, glad that the meeting had finally ended. He’d forgotten about the Wizengamot party next month, Rabastan had promised to buy him some new dress robes to go to that, as he’d had to wear two sets to his family’s New Year’s party after Rowle had ruined one of them by ripping them open to try and rape him in his own bathroom. He wondered if Rabastan had remembered that or if Harry would have to gently remind him.
Lucius and Xerxes flanked him on the way out, as it seemed that everyone and his dog wanted to speak to him, or rather confront and shout at him, he even saw some fingering their wands as if they wanted to curse him. Of course such a thing would have caused a massive family feud between Harry and his own family, including the Lestranges as his married family, and the idiot who had decided to curse him and their family.

“How is your headache?” Lucius asked him.

“It’s getting worse.” He admitted. “I can’t wait to get home and lie down.”

“Several more minutes and you’ll be back home. I’m very proud of you.”

Harry smiled and he ignored everyone else as he focused only on getting home. He couldn’t wait to put his head in Rabastan’s lap and have those lovely, strong fingers massaging his skull.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

Bill made his way to Dumbledore’s office at Hogwarts as he mulled over everything that had happened in the last few hours. It had not been what he’d been expecting. From the books that he’d read he’d been expecting arrogant, old men throwing out words that hadn’t been used in conversations for a hundred years and a lot more stuffiness. He hadn’t expected the level of opinionated fervour during the debates that had been hot with passionate anger and argument.
He made it to the stone gargoyle that covered the entrance to Dumbledore’s office and he spoke the password that he’d been given, waiting for the gargoyle to leap aside before climbing the stairs to the office above. He knocked on the door and waited to be told to enter before doing so.

“Ah, Bill. What can I do for you? Was there something you found in one of the books that you need assistance with?”

“No, Sir. A meeting was called this morning.”

“So soon? Well, no matter. Come, take a seat.”

Bill did as he had been told and took one of the chairs on the other side of Dumbledore’s desk and he shook his head.

“I don’t know how to explain just how…wrong everything went in such a short space of time.”

“What do you mean?” Dumbledore asked softly.

“It was like Harry’s own personal show.” Bill explained with a soft shake of the head. “He wasn’t following Malfoy’s direction at all, Harry was the first to speak and Malfoy barely spoke at all during the debates.”

“What was the issue raised?” Dumbledore asked in alarm.

“Tightening the creature laws even further, to the point where all known magical creatures would be imprisoned and sterilised to prevent them from having children, if they were criminals, even small, petty offences, then they’d be executed without a trial or even a hearing.”

“What did Harry say about the matter?” Dumbledore asked quietly.

“He was dead set against it. He made such a compelling argument, all on his own, that he swayed many of those into voting with him, opposing the new legislation. It failed to pass by a mere margin and I’m sure that it was only because of Harry’s input that it didn’t actually pass.”

“I admit myself surprised that Lucius didn’t step in and stop Harry from doing as such.”

Bill shook his head. “No, he looked proud of what Harry was doing and saying. He just sat by his side and smiled at him smugly as Harry spoke and argued with the other members of the Wizengamot. He voted with Harry to oppose the laws. Harry really did have a way of making people feel stupid for voicing their own opinions and because of that, no one wanted to argue the point for the legislation to be passed. I could see the minds of some of the silent observers changing more and more as Harry spoke in favour of rejecting the proposal and then again when he put aside everyone else’s arguments so easily.”

“Would you share these memories with me, so that I might look at them in finer detail?”

Bill nodded his head and then, as Dumbledore’s wand tip came to his temple, Bill thought of the Wizengamot meeting and everything that had happened that morning. A silvery strand came free from his temple and it was caught in a glass vial as Dumbledore extracted the memory.

“Harry successfully talked a wizard into a goblin execution.” Bill warned.

Dumbledore looked up at him sharply. “How was he able to manage such a thing?”

“A wizard tried to break into a vault owned by his Wife. I have no idea how Harry knew of such a law, as it was one of the outdated laws that you asked me to remove, but he convinced the Wizengamot that such affairs were for the goblins to handle, even Malfoy looked surprised at hearing that. None of them knew of such a law, but Harry did somehow know of it and he played his part to perfection, insisting that there was nothing that the Wizengamot could do, that it was still a legitimate law, that if we denied such a thing then it could spark off a goblin rebellion. As soon as Runcorn heard that it was an actual law, he wrote a memo to the Department of Law Enforcement and after hearing back from them that it was a legitimate law, he swept it completely from the books and agreed with Harry that it was an affair for the goblins to sort out in any way that they saw fit. There wasn’t even a vote for it.”

“I admit that I am very concerned about the way that Harry is acting. To condemn people to such overinflated sentences to Azkaban and now to condemn someone to death, his behaviour is out of control, yet no one is raising any eyebrows at it. You would think that he had always acted in such a cruel, unforgiving manner for all the notice that he’s getting.”

Bill could well understand Dumbledore’s point. He still remembered the shy, sweet little boy who had come with them to the Quidditch World Cup. To compare the two, the boy that he’d met at the Quidditch World Cup to the boy that he’d seen just now in the Wizengamot meeting room, they were like night and day, two very different people and it seemed that no one even noticed, or more accurately, they just didn’t care, but they needed to. Because if Dumbledore was right, and he always was, then Harry was the only one who could defeat you-know-who. If they didn’t have Harry, then they had no hope and they would be fighting for nothing, they’d just be throwing away their lives with no hope of ever winning the coming war.
Lupin was insistent on not forcing Harry to fight, because though Harry apparently still wanted you-know-who defeated, he didn’t want to get his soft, clean hands dirty. But Dumbledore was insistent that Harry had to be the one to fight, that he was the only one able to finally defeat you-know-who for good, but the selfish little shit that Harry had become was refusing to have any part of the coming war, insisting that he didn’t want to fight and denying the prophecy all together. It was utterly maddening.
The only way that they could truly be safe from you-know-who was to destroy him once and for all, yet the only person who could so as such was Harry, who was now being an utter pillock and refusing to do anything. Bill wanted to shake the sense back into him, or Malfoy’s influence out, either way he just wanted to grab hold of Harry and shake the little bastard for everything that he’d done and had put them through and was still putting them through. Enough was enough and if he was condemning people to Azkaban and now even to death just to impress the Malfoys then Bill wanted to punch him right in the face for ruining other’s lives just to try and impress his disgusting adoptive family in such a sick, sinister way. It just wasn’t right and Bill had no idea how Harry was even getting away with it, none of them within the Order knew, but now that he was sitting on the Wizengamot, hopefully he’d be able to work out what Harry was doing and how they could put a stop to it. It couldn’t be allowed to continue.

“What do we need to do?” He asked Dumbledore, firming himself and his resolve.

“There is nothing that we can do except to inform the others of what has transpired today and then leak it out to the general population, subtly so that it cannot be brought back onto you, and hope that a public outcry will cow Harry somewhat from these cruel intentions. I will review this memory now and I will call you back to discuss my findings at a later date, thank you for arriving so promptly, it could save that poor man his life.”

Bill nodded and he took the dismissal as he stood and went back down the spiral stairway. He had much more work to be done and he had to somehow go in to face the goblins over his lateness into work, knowing now that they held a wizard prisoner and would be legally executing him at their discretion.
Everything was just so wrong and there was nothing that anyone could do to fix it as Harry continued to prove himself as a constant thorn in their sides, twinging and making himself known in the worst of ways at every turn. He needed to be stopped, the sooner the better.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

Harry was very blissed out and incredibly happy as he laid with his head in Rabastan’s lap, enjoying the feeling of having someone’s fingers stroked slowly and rhythmically through his hair, the nails lightly scratching his scalp in a way that rose pleasurable goosebumps on his arms and made him shiver happily every now and then.
He was very happy and very comfortable right where he was and he didn’t plan on moving for a while yet, and now that he’d had a light lunch and his calcium potion, he didn’t have to move either.

“You should have been there!” Xerxes carried on, he was so happy and so proud as he regaled Rabastan and Rodolphus of Harry’s morning in the Wizengamot. Harry barely had to open his mouth between the adulation of Xerxes and Lucius.

“I can’t believe you sentenced someone to death by using the goblins.” Rabastan chuckled, looking down at him and smiling. Harry smiled back sleepily.

“I’m afraid it was his own fault.” Harry said drowsily, his eyes now closed. “Everyone, even Muggleborns or those raised by Muggles like I was, know that to steal from the goblins is a ridiculous notion resulting in death. I even asked during my first ever trip to the bank what would happen if anyone touched certain vaults and I was straight up told, as an eleven year old, that the person would be sucked into the vault and trapped inside with no hope of getting out and that such vaults were only checked upon for such trespassers every ten years. There is even a warning carved into the doors to the main hall that everyone entering the bank can see! Why shouldn’t the goblins be able to deal with trespassers and thieves in any way that they deem necessary in their own bank?! If someone tried to break into my vault then I’d absolutely want them killed for it! Do you know how much valuable junk is in the Potter vault, let alone the Black’s?”

“I hadn’t thought to ask.” Lucius replied, there was a thoughtful look upon his face. “What is in those two vaults?”

“The Potter vault isn’t too bad, it’s mostly money and books, but there are a few heirlooms and things too, the Black vault however, I’m afraid to touch half of it. I’m sure most of it’s cursed.”

“What makes you say that?” Xerxes asked him.

“I touched a goblet and it gave me a rash that the goblins had to treat before I left the bank. I didn’t touch anything after that.”

“If you are agreeable, then perhaps I should come with you the next time, to circumvent any curses harming you.”

Harry nodded. “That would be great, some of the stuff in that vault looks so cool, it would be nice to touch some of it without fear that I’m going to lose an arm or have my eyeballs burnt out. I remember half of the crap at the Black house in Grimmauld Place, if they keep that much cursed stuff in their house, then I’m not surprised that their vault is full of it too. There was a music box that when it was opened played a sinister, eerie music, it just made everyone drowsy and sleepy, like we were in a trance, and none of us could move. Thank god Ginny slammed the lid on it, who knows what it would have done if left for any longer.”

“You have been to the Black home then?”

“Of course, I own it now.” Harry said. “Along with all the Black vaults and estates. Sirius left it all to me in his will.”

“You’re a very rich boy.”

“I don’t care for such things.” Harry insisted blithely. “Family is much more important to me.”

He looked up at Rabastan and smiled.

“I was surprised that you voted with me on the creature law proposal however.” He said. “I thought that you were all about controlling the magical creatures.”

“There is a difference in controlling them and in imprisoning them all and forgetting about them. How could our Lord do his work if that proposal had passed into law? How could we use Greyback to his full potential if all creatures are locked up or executed on sight? It was not limited to those merely mentioned in the proposal either, it would have included them all, giants, centaurs, merpeople…it is exactly these sorts of proposals that send them fleeing to our Lord.” Xerxes told him. “He gives them the freedom to take their revenge, which often brings about even harsher proposals such as this one.”

“Which is exactly my point.” Harry answered. “All of the current creature laws need to be reviewed and rewritten, they’re not working and it’s unfair of anyone to expect these creatures to live by such harsh, vile laws that often prevent them from living a full, happy life or even from being completely safe! I’ll be setting that on my list of things to change too, as soon as I have thought on all possible avenues to take to help them instead of forcing tighter and tighter controls upon them, it’s no wonder that half of them snap and go on killing sprees. If I was subject to the same sort of limitations then I think I would too.”

“I cannot wait to see what you come up with.” Xerxes said gleefully.

“Remember to cover all loopholes.” Lucius told him firmly. “You need to plan for every eventuality and put down in writing everything that the law should cover and not leave it up for interpretation.”

Harry nodded seriously from Rabastan’s lap. “It might take a while, but it needs proper planning and as you said, I need to cover all eventualities. But I will make this right. I will not stand by as they’re all vilified for the actions of a select few. Where is the justice in that?”

“There is none.” Rabastan answered.

Harry nodded. “Exactly, and that needs to change as soon as I can possibly manage it.”

Everyone fell quiet then and Harry relaxed himself back on Rabastan’s lap and just enjoyed having his head massaged. He was going to start on a basic outline for his proposal now, while he had some free time thanks to the Easter break. He would then look into every single law and clause that was currently a legitimate and enforced law and he would set about changing them all for the better.
He was smart enough to see that if you controlled someone to the point of giving them no freewill at all, then of course they would fight and rankle against such tight confines, trying to scrape a better life for themselves and their family only to be knocked down again and again. He thought to Remus, how he couldn’t hold down a job because of what he was, how he was so stressed and aged because of his poor living situation, how he could barely clothe or feed himself. His jaw clenched. He would put an end to it and he would rewrite all of these laws for the betterment of the magical creatures who merely wanted the freedom to live their lives without fear. He would work tirelessly to achieve this, he swore it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

A/N: Happy New Year, lovelies! We now head into 2017 and a new year of writing and reading. I am fully expecting our new fic of the year to be Broken Wings, with any luck it could be posted as early as February/March, though due to the content it will not be for everyone and it is only going to be posted on AO3.
I think that this is all that I needed to do, I hope that you’ve enjoyed this chapter, and Harry absolutely stealing the show in the Wizengamot, so until next time, lovelies,
StarLight Massacre. X
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The Guile and Devotion of a Black Heir