Harry and Hermione made it to the entrance of the Chamber of Secrets in Myrtle's bathroom without incident. He hissed, "Open," got a semi-crazy idea, smirked to himself, took Hermione's hand and magically willed himself and her into the main chamber thus by-passing the long (and boring) passages to get there.
He halfheartedly expected Hermione to protest that what he just did was not possible within Hogwarts and its legendary wards, to which he was ready to point out that technically what he did was not within Hogwarts but within the Chambers of Secrets, whose wards he was tied to. Which meant that Dumbledore and those he wished could Apparition as well, as Headmaster, he held the Hogwarts' wards just as he held the Chamber's wards. Instead, she was silent, with a slight smirk on her face, as if she knew what Harry's thoughts upon her response and his were already. She did look around in curiosity.
He found himself slightly surprised at Hermione's quietness, but he had a few things to set up. Against the wall, off to the side, there was a typical table waiting for him. Unlike a typical table however, its top had been treated with a potion that left a residue that would absorb magic without harming what it was coating. It was used by many to protect surfaces that young wizards and witches would practice their magic upon to protect said item from said wizard or witch. Thus, it was a very popular potion within Hogwarts and many Wizarding homes with children. Of course, with the potion upon the table, one cannot use magic to move it, so Harry was stuck moving it himself. Which he pushed the table, it had wheels, to a corner of the Chamber. He summoned a box of feathers that Dobby had gathered for him and placed one on the top of the table.
As he turned away from the table and towards Hermione, he pulled her wand out of his magic-pocket where he kept it and then proceeded to trip over his own feet in surprise. While he was busy setting up everything, Hermione had completely undressed herself and was in the process of stretching out much like a cat did after a nap. Her exercise movements seemed to highlight her womanly curves and gave her an undeniable sexual allure. He felt quite a bit of lust building within himself for her but pushed it down so they could get back to what they needed to do. There would be plenty of time later for play.
Hermione had a mischievous smile upon her face upon seeing Harry's reactions, both the tripping and the big lump in his pants at her actions. Several scenarios from her Daddy's secret stash of Otrera romance novels flashed through her mind as she looked him. She decided to keep it simple, so she sashayed over to him, keeping her eyes locked upon his, hoping to communicate her desires and needs with her eyes alone. When she reached him, he held out her wand towards her, but instead of merely taking it, she pressed her naked arse into his covered crotch. She then looked over her shoulder towards her lover to gauge his reaction to her, and used his arm to blindly guide her to her wand in his hand. Thus, both missed the gray smoke that escaped out of the wand as she touched it.
She was disappointed to see that Harry had snapped out of his daze and got to helping her go through the First-Year's charm curriculum. He started with the levitation charm by guided her through the wand movements and properly enunciated while controlling her magical flow to the level that it should be for a simple charm as putting too much magic into a charm does not increase the charm's overall affect but rather causes the charm to destabilize into something unpredictable. She felt his control over her magic as a gentle breeze, caressing her very being in such an intimate way she could not describe, not even herself, with mere words, and yet guiding her with the strength of steel. If not for Harry's will, she could easily lose herself in such a sensation and never return. It was a feeling she wished to have for the rest of her life. She felt the magic go through her and perform that which he had desired, causing the feather to gently rise, float for a minute, and then gently lower itself back down.
She wondered if what she felt was what a wand would feel like. The idea of Harry using her as a mere wand greatly aroused her. Her arousal was increased as he whispered gently into her ear, "Just like that. Try not to use any more magic than you felt me using for this charm."
Hermione tried to do as Harry told her, but she never had to regulated her magic before. So she easily overpowered the charm, which caused the feather to mutate into something that looked like mostaccioli and her wand to caught on fire. Seeing and feeling the heat of the magical flames, she screamed and dropped the wand in surprise.
As Harry cast a containment charm over her wand, the Chamber's wards reacted to the over-charmed feather by encasing it within a containment charm as well. The Chamber's containment charm seemed to also draw out the excess magic from the feather, somehow dissipate it, and thus returning the feather to normal.
He noticed that Hermione had started to sob and shake as the magical backlash from her overloaded wand hit her. He thought, //What would Sirius do in such a situation?//
So he pulled her closer and kissed her soundly.
Harry was surprisingly comfortable laying naked on his back on the hard marble floor of the Chamber of Secrets. Of course, it helped that the Chamber's floor had been enchanted with cushioning-charms and heating-charms. Although, a lot of that comfort came from the fact that his fleshy-wand was inside Hermione's lovely body, who was laying completely naked on top of him. His hands were caressing her lovely arse and lower back in a manner that she seemed to find enjoy given the sounds she was making. He could not help comparing those sounds to a cat's, as he would swear that she was purring. Or he could just be influenced by the "cat ate the cream" smile upon her lips.
With wizards and witches, there was more going on than the physical acts of pleasure. Just as his fleshy-wand was physically inside of Hermione, so too was his magic and mind was inside of her as well. It was a sensation that he had not the words to describe. It was also a sensation he hoped never to do without.
"Anytime. Anywhere," Hermione began to tell him out loud, only for her thoughts on what those words truly meant flashed through his mind and overwhelm him with their intensity drowning out anything else she was saying.
Hermione's thoughts which expressed the concepts of "anything" and "anywhere" came flooding into his mind. He was a bit surprised and amazed at their sexual content. Majority of those thoughts seem to center around the Great Hall during a meal, while others involved various classrooms during lessons. All these thoughts of Hermione had the feeling of being scripted out by her as if they were scenes from a play in which she both starred and directed. They also had shadows of other thoughts and memories attached to them that seemed to involve her father, whom she only referred to as "Daddy" in private or "John" in public, but nothing else. He was a bit puzzled by this, and also noted that she only referred to her mother as "Mother" and nothing else, private or public. It was not something he wished to pursue now.
Even if he wished to, Hermione's thoughts flashed through his mind. Her Great Hall scene, as he had begun to call it, was set in the Great Hall during a meal where all the students and staff were present. Not only was everyone present, but the House tables had been adjusted so that they and the Head Table could face a sixth table, which was higher than the others, lacked any seats beside it or any settings upon it. Hermione's mind supplied that such a table was a called a catwalk, which was not actually a table but a raised narrow platform for displaying fashion items and the people wearing them. In this fact, the item on display was Hermione herself, who was only wearing a smile, a collar, and a pair of high-heel stiletto, open-face sandal shoes. Attached to her collar was a leash that was in his right hand, which for some reason was very important fact to her. Just as important to her was the weird walk she used as she moved down the catwalk. The entire presentation, for that was what it was, had a ritualistic feel to it. Also was obvious that the presentation, especially the walk, was designed to show off a male's attributes rather than a female's. She seemed to associate this display with her daddy and a few other men, but he really did not wish to abuse her trust of him to delve deeper for an explanation.
Several of the classroom scenes, as he called them, all basically followed the pattern of that the House Points system had been replaced with an Orgasm Reward System, where a student would receive an orgasm at the end of the class instead of points for their House and punishment would then come in the form of sexual humiliation. Most of such scenes happened during one of Professor McGonagall's classes, where at the end of the class, having received several rewards owed her would go up to the Professor's desk and transfigure it to a comfortable bed. Draco would serve her and prepare her, being sexually humiliated not that it took much, for Harry's usage of her as he was to be rewarded too. Professor McGonagall would grade them on their performance as well as offer a few tips and tricks to her favorite student. Harry thought the scenario to be unrealistic, especially as Draco would probably enjoy it too much.
All the current scenarios, he noted, showed a very exhibitionistic Hermione that could surpass even the Metamorphmagus Nymphadora Tonks. He knew that the closed Hermione had been, as many teenage girls were, terribly insecure and thought herself a mere Plain Jane, at best. At worst, she would describe herself as a creature that only Hagrid could love. He did realize through their bond that himself and his actions in binding her had alternated her own perception of herself, especially as she used to compare herself to her own mother. A woman who had been an international teenage super-model, attended a very exclusive school where she was the captain of various sports team and head student, whom even several years above and below her own year would look to for help and guidance. Hermione thought of her mother as the Amazon Queen Hippolyta made reality. Her mother had the three B's as Seamus would say, brains, brawn, and beauty, going for her and she knew how to use them.
While his mind was wandering through hers, he could feel her thoughts, and that she could feel his thoughts to a lesser degree. He could feel her pleasure, as she could feel his. He could feel the love she had for him, and she could feel his for her. He could feel her love grow into a several thoughts, one of which prompted her pelvic muscles around his fleshy-wand grip him and massage him, seeking to enhance their pleasure. After a few more moments, it all became too much for him and he ejaculated into her, which triggered her own orgasm.
After a few moments to regain their strength, Hermione had propped herself up a bit to look at the peaceful look upon her Master's face and enjoyed knowing that she had placed it there. She could also feel her Master's hot seed inside her, while unsure what type of mother she would be but she did know she wanted to bear his children, as many as she could.
Harry playfully slapped her ass-cheek to get her attention and said, "As warm and fuzzy as that makes me feel, my dear Hermione, an opened witch can't get accidentally pregnant like a Muggle or a closed witch could.
Hermione smiled at being his dear and frown a bit until she realized something. She answered her own question with, "Because an opened witch requires that both parties perform an intent-based ritual in order to become pregnant."
"And it will be a party, I'm sure," Harry joked. "That and an Opener can set the opened witch's menstrual cycle to: a single month, as a Muggle-born is defaulted to; a single season or once every three months, as a Witch-born is defaulted to; a single year, which is common; once in seven years, called a wizard's cycle; or allow the menstrual cycle to go completely dormant, which is not recommended. Each has its pluses and minuses. The first two should be obvious, the once a year is the most practical, and the going-dormant is the most dangerous.
"There is a ritual that can change the setting, for a lack of a better word, if need be, from one setting to another without much problems, save changing from the seven-year cycle and going-dormant settings. From those settings, there is a price to pay for the missed cycles, so the longer one waits to change a witch's setting will increase the pain involved. It had been said that Brunhilde the Beautiful became Brunhilde the Bloody Butcher after undergoing the ritual to restore her menstrual cycle from being on the dormant setting for three years.
"An opened witch can get pregnant if both parties perform the ritual, regardless of which menstrual cycle she's on, save the dormant setting. That requires a series of rituals, each of which are tied to the new moon. I set you for the yearly cycle, as it has the fewer drawbacks and there are several charms can be tied into the cycle itself, so that you will only notice a bit more sensitivity upon your birthday. Other than that, you should not notice anything nor need any witchly potions at all when you're on the yearly cycle."
Unsure of what to say, Hermione simply kissed Harry to express herself, which he returned. While he was returning her kiss, he took advantage of where his hands were and squeezed her ass-cheeks softly.
After a few moments to collect some air, he began, "Speaking of rituals, you little minx knew what you were getting in for and didn't tell me." He placed a finger upon her lips to silence her protest. He continued, "Had you told me, both of us know I wouldn't have gone through with it, especially, the deliberate magical over-load part."
Again, he placed a finger over her lips and then caressed her womanly curves and toned muscles with his finger tips and rested his hands upon her toned arse that fit comfortably into the palms of his hands. He enjoyed the feeling of her body against his, and then continued saying, "Yes, it worked out. But only because you had surrendered so much of yourself to me that I could be your center."
Hermione's eyes widen in surprise a bit, both that he had figured that out and was not as mad as she had feared he would be. She had hidden the personal effects and costs for her for performing the rituals as she had planned it out. That she had done it all for him with some bonuses for herself and her fantasies would not have been enough for him to go through with it.
"I'd ask you not to hide anything like that again from me," Harry remarked. "Only, you're incapable of doing such now. And yes, you're right, apart of me does feel... relieved, is that word, that is so. You have been my anchor through these last five years, and now, I can be yours.
"Getting back to the ritual, we were a bit lucky in that we underestimated my House's age."
"But how?" she asked bewildered, "we checked the library and could only find an accounting of the Potters dating back to the Gryffindor House records towards the beginning of Hogwarts."
"But that was in part our mistake, one of actually," he answered. "First of all, the main Hogwarts student Library, and yes I now know there are more than one libraries here, only really contains Ministry-approved books, the rest have been moved to the other libraries which most students don't currently have access too, even though they should. We know that the Ministry only acknowledges itself, Hogwarts and Merlin. The rest they ignore as best they can. We also assumed, as everyone else seems to be, that I'm the Heir of Gryffindor, which I now know for sure, I'm not. So we did not even try to look past the Founders' time or even into then either. Which only would have told us that a couple of Potters were among the very first faculty members, along with the Founders themselves.
"Even if House Potter was a thousand years old, the age of a House isn't measured in years, but in number of generations. And for the record, House Potter is over eight thousand generations old, being one of the founding Houses of Avalon, after the Fall of Atlantean Republic. So a thousand years or even a thousand Wizarding generations is way off.
Hermione gasped in surprise as the implications set in. They knew that everyone had assumed that Harry was the Heir of Gryffindor, so they had concentrated on proving that. As an Heir to one of the Most Ancient Houses, Harry would be out of Professor Dumbledore and the Ministry's reach, as the Most Ancient Houses fell under older laws than those the Ministry and Professor Dumbledore could call upon against Harry. Professor Dumbledore's House was only an Ancient House, having been started between five hundred to eight hundred year period. House Dumbledore was actually the first of the Ancient Houses. But if Harry was a Lord among the Elder Houses, and even beyond, he would be under the laws of Avalon, not the Ministry's or even the Founders'. Those figures of Muggle mythology were actual very powerful Sorcerers, and probably related to Harry in various ways.
"Still, you were lucky that you had surrendered to me as much as you had," he continued. "As it was, the intentional overload was too much for you. Had I not anchored you, the magic would have overwhelmed you. But you had counted on that, and counted that the excess magic would overflow into your body, energizing it and optimizing, which it did. You took a very big risk, and I can see your thoughts on why you did it.
"Yes, I needed that push. Yes, I wouldn't have gone through with it had I'd known the risks to you that were involved. Yes, I claiming Lordship over you, was also enough for my House's Lordship to be claimed as well. No, I can't describe it, save: up until now, I've lived my life down in a valley covered in shadows with one or two people coming along to visit me for a short time; now, I stand upon a mountain with the sun shining down upon me, surrounded by relatives, sharing their wisdom and knowledge with me and helping me navigate through the flows and eddies in life and magic."
He sighed, held her close, and continued, "We knew as we researched the Heritage Ritual that the Ministry had been actively trying to make itself out as the 'Be-All, End-All' of Magical Britannia. When in fact, it's merely the gatekeeper to the actual Wizarding World, through suppressing some information and enhancing others, which those like Dumbledore have taken advantage of, for various reasons. From what I know now, those actions have several serious repercussions, which Riddle and his gang had benefited from, and are part of the reason why things are the way they are now. There were safe-guards in place to prevent a lot of what has happened, but the Ministry has undermined a lot of them.
"This knowledge from my ancestors also clears up several situations that I have been. You recall that I mentioned that I had helped Bones family when Riddle attacked them this past summer, although, I was only able to save Amelia and Susan. Which is a bit of a problem."
Before Hermione could voice her question, Harry asked it out loud, "How could saving the Director of Magical Law Enforcement and our classmate's lives be a problem?"
Hermione nodded her head, while thinking it through for herself. She did smile a bit realizing that he could hear her thoughts. Or knew her really, really well. Either way, she felt a warm and full-feeling within her, and realized it was coming from between her legs. Her face had a pleased look about her.
"Well," he answered. "Amelia is the Head of House Bones, Susan is her heir, by default as there are no other Bones family members anymore, so they are the last of their House. Both owe me a life debt, which in itself isn't a problem. It's what Riddle did after defeating Amelia that's the problem, as Riddle had claimed them and their House, which he could then use them and their House's resources against us. House Bones being an Elder House, who were contemporaries of Merlin and Founding Houses of Camelot, have a lot of magic and lore that can be called upon by whoever controls House Bones. Fortunately for our side, in my defeating Riddle, his claim was transferred to me, which is the problem. Which was compounded by the fact that until I took my Lordship, I didn't even know what truly going on.
"I don't know what Riddle's original plan was, though it would explain several of his tactics and assaults from his first war if he done this before with other Houses, and then used their magic against the family members and the Ministry.
"Regardless, as far as Magic is concerned, Amelia and Susan Bones are, for the lack of a better words, private property, my property and my responsibility. Which, surprisingly, Amelia is happy about, insofar for herself, but a bit concerned for her niece, mostly. The thing with spoils, as the Bones are now, they are socially somewhere between bonded-servants, such as yourself, and full-slaves, which are public property and looked down upon. Amelia thinks that if she takes upon herself both debts, Susan can be elevated to bond-servant status, and allowed to continue Houses Bones as a House Potter vassal, similar to what Neville has done."
Feeling Hermione's surprise at his statement, he replied, "A lot has happened while you were in your magical coma adjusting to the changes the excess magic brought upon your body.
"It seems that Neville had been bullied by several Upper-Year witches and wizards, the witches were attempting to claim him and the Longbottom fortunes for themselves. I had thought they just being like gits, like Malfoy. Either way, he felt that I have been his patron and sculptor, and now that I had claimed you as many thought I should, it would be a good time to formalize the relationship between Neville and myself."
"But," Hermione started not even sure what feelings she was expressing. She knew that Neville had a bad time in Gryffindor House as both Harry and herself had and she had to help him from time to time with his school work and fellow Gyffindors. She had thought he had come into his own last year.
"Neville is a bonded-servant as well," he stated. "But as a wizard, he doesn't get all the benefits that you get. He's now immune to most mind-magic and pain-magic, including Imperious and Crucius Curses, has a minor psychic bond with me, a mere shade of what we have, but he doesn't have any magical increases as you do, nor can he call upon my magic like you can to boost your magic even more. No, you didn't use my magic when you overloaded your wand. You did that completely on your own.
"Your wand overloaded because your core had practically tripled in size and you were blood-bonded to your wand. Which admittedly it isn't something that wizards do, only witches. Even then, the runes on your wand should have prevented it..."
"Runes on my wand?" Hermione interrupted interested.
"Yeah," Harry answered. "A wand has three components, the wood, the core, and the rune array upon it. The rune array is pretty standardized, with each wand-maker or wand-crafter having their own slight variations which serves as their signature upon their creations. The actual rune array is hidden within the wand, both to protect them and to prevent others from copying them.
"It's agreed by most that while the Romans did not create wand-magic, they did perfect the science behind it. Of course, given they had thousands of years to do so and a great need for a highly structured, very formal methodology of using magic that could be taught to recruit easily and still produce results quickly. Wand-magic is one of the main reasons why Rome was a major power in the Outer Rim and lasted as long as it did."
"Outer rim?" Hermione inquired. She had the sense this was one of those tip-of-the-iceberg moments in one's life.
Harry sighed and moved the two of them into a seated position with Hermione upon his lap. She made several moans of displeasure, bordering on pain, at being disconnected from him. So he held her in arms and kisses her neck, ear, and hair until she calmed down.
"We know that the Ministry is merely the gatekeeper to the Wizarding World," he began. "But we never really looked into what the Wizarding World actually was."
He placed a finger upon her lips, which she kissed and tried to get as much skin-to-skin contact with him as she could in his lap.
"We assumed that the Wizarding World was nothing more than Wizard and Witches living with Muggles in the same towns and cities, working and playing side by side. In the Outer Rim, which is where we are, that's true. But this is only the tip.
"The truth of the matter is that Wizarding World is actually around five million years old and covers many different areas of space, time and reality. It might be older, but our record-keeping only goes back that far. Nothing is permanent or truly immortal, so the Wizarding World has had its shares of up and down, much like the Muggle World has, although, on a vastly larger scale and a quicker turn-around, relatively speaking.
"It is mind-boggling... The Wizarding World contains incalculable inhabitants stretching through several galaxies, planes of existence and parallel dimensions loosely tied together through magic and a shared recorded history of, at least, five million years. It is quite a bit of culture shock for anyone come from the Muggle-world, part of why the Ministry was created to help the transition. I have all my ancestors' memories and lore for the past half a million years, covering the fall of the Atlantean Republic, the rise and fall of the Golden and Silver Millenniums, and the rise of the three current magical kingdoms, for the lack of a better word, Avalia, Xia, and Mesopotamia, which still exist today. It's a lot to take in, I know.
"As much as they would hate to admit it, the Ministry was modeled after and influenced by the Muggles, to better interact with them. Fortunately, various Covens and Guilds have picked up the slack as the Ministry has fallen behind."
"But covens are but groups," Hermione wondered. "Guilds are but trade unions. They're just Witches and Wizards in the Wizarding World. What can they do?"
"Which a lot, actually," Harry answer. "It is true that the Covens and Guides made up of Witches and Wizards, but that's part of the misdirection that Ministry and others have been using. What the Ministry hotly denies is that one can perform magic without having to have a core within them. Of course, they also deny, for some reason, the fact that a magic-core is more than a concentration of magic within a person.
"Anyways, there are three types of magic users in the world. Thus that can use the magic within, those that use the magic without, and those that can combine the two and become one with magic.
"The magic within, is us, Wizards and technically, Wizardresses. This is the Charms, Transfiguration, Enchanting, and such classes we learn at Hogwarts. Many of us have cores within ourselves, and for the record, a core isn't physically within us, it exists in another plane, but does interact with the physical body through blood and energies within the body. Vampires, Goblins, and others don't have cores but their bodies can hold some magic, which they can tap into and use.
"The magic without, in other words, they call upon magic around them, within the planet itself, from the various powers, in the very air, or some other source. Traditionally, these practicers of this magic style are called witches, regardless of gender. Those that abuse this magic are called warlocks, which in our society refers to magical warriors similar to the Muggle's military Special Air Service. House-Elves, Centaurs, and others get their magic and life-force from external sources, this is why House-Elves need to be bonded and Centaurs need to be in open forest areas. Potions, Herbology, Arithmancy, and Alchemy are classes that we learn witchcraft in, as in the full name of Hogwarts implies, not that its a co-ed school, as the Ministry would like us to believe.
"And being one with magic, that's true sorcery, a lost art. Which may or may not be a good thing. The Sorcerers of old were said to walk the planes with the easy of giants commanded the elements with the easy of dragons, and were immortal as sand. Several of my ancestors were sorcerers and sorceresses, so I know there are truths to those sayings.
"While I know you would like for me continue to about the different users of magic." He kissed her softly and then continued, "The fact is that, by calling upon external sources, even Muggles can practice witchcraft. In fact, most practicing-Witches are what the Ministry would call Muggles. They and Squibs actually make up some of the best and legendary Potion Masters and Mistresses of the past two thousand years."
"So most Covens and Guilds are made up of practicing-Witches," Hermione exclaimed, "with ties to the Muggle world that the Ministry can't touch or interfere with."
Harry kissed her and remarked, "Exactly. Until Dumbledore became Deputy Headmaster, where he dropped most of the true witchcraft classes save those within the core curriculum, which are required by the Founders' charter to be taught and no one has the authority to stop those classes. In exchange, the Ministry withdrew their special provisions involving the Covens, which Dumbledore believed was a political victory for him, not knowing that the Covens have been taking better care of themselves for the last hundred years and that their involvement with Hogwarts made up forty percent of then Hogwarts budget, which was lost to Dumbledore.
"For the record, the Ministry contributes about five percent of the current Hogwarts budget, has ninety-five say about the current curriculum, hires sixty-seven percent of our graduates and about thirty-seven percent of our school-mates' parents are Ministry employees.
"It's while at the Ministry that many learn of the rest of the Wizarding World, and left for greener pastures. So there is a high turn over at the Ministry with employee remaining for a short time, about ten or fifteen years, and then move on to a Coven or Guild in their area of interest.
"We were originally talking about wands, your wand actually. I'll need to take you to the Llangarest conclave, where I got my custom wand from. Probably need to take Narcissa with us."
"What?" Hermione exclaimed.
"Oops," Harry sheepishly mentioned. "I'd forgotten about her. Cissy..."
"Cissy, now?" Hermione remarked in a neutral voice. If she did not know for sure what she was feeling at the moment. She could only identify the feelings of uncertainty, sadness, and curiosity. She was a little surprise to note she was not feeling any jealousy or concern over the closeness that Harry seemed to have with Draco's mother.
"Yes," he simply answered. "When I took up my Lordship, my Family Magic reviewed everything associated with my House. Let's just say everything was in a bigger mess than we thought. Many loans have been called in by my Family Magic as I wasn't aware that I could extend them. Which is going to surprise several families as some of those loans have been extended for over several centuries. So several parties are in shock when those loans came due three days ago. Several wizards that Dumbledore had illegally appointed as representatives of the various Houses and vassals under my banner will find themselves forsworn if they attempt to vote in such capacity come tomorrow's Fall Equinox sessions as they will have ignored Magic's warning that went out then too.
"The Daily Prophet got away with a lot of what it printed because my family magic was semi-dormant, concentrating on protecting me from the Durleys, which is why so many believed them. As if my family magic was silent, they thought it was true. But now, they will reap what they have sown a hundredfold. Skeeter is locked in her beetle animagus form for the rest of her life. The rest of the staff that could have done something, they will pay the false-witness price. The building has been leveled and never used again for news reporting. <{>"A pox has descended upon some of the Goblins in breaking the treaties that House Potter and several other of our vassal Houses have with them. Which has triggered a full investigation which has lead to a civil war among the Goblins. So of course, Gringotts Wizarding Bank has been closed for the past several days, a first in several centuries."
Harry's smile was of a cat that ate the canary as he said, "You won't have to worry about Umbitch anymore, my dear."
Hermione looked at him a bit confused and asked, "Oh? What happened to Madam Um--" She found herself unable to speak the dreaded Ministry stooge's name, save as calling her "Umbitch" as Harry had.
Harry's smile seem to grew as he continued, "She ran afoul of Magic itself it seems. Umbitch had come to Hogwarts to berate me for my interfering with, and I quote, the supreme, righteous, majestic Ministry, end quote. Not that she mentioned with what I interfered with. I do know that several Death Eaters were found Squib-ified and electrocuted after they attempted to attack your parent's House."
Hermione knew that everything was okay, but still a part of her panicked for her parents and what the others might think of her parents' life-style.
"What many forget that magical House is more than just bonds of family, it's a means of protection as well," Harry explained. "When you created House Granger, that magical protection extended to your parents, yourself and your children. Any aunts, uncles, or even grandparents are not included in the initial creation of a magical house. While Granger Family Magic is still an infant, as your Lord and Master, you can call upon my House Protection, which you did, to boost your own. So when those Death Eaters tried to attack what they thought was a Muggle building, they were dealt with by the wards our magic placed over them. And since the Ministry highly restricts any truly protective wards and they attacked eliminated several sources of extra income into Fudge's and Umbitch's pockets. She came here to arrest me.
"Of course, she made a huge mistake to admitting that she was interfering with a Magical House affair, thinking either that House Potter was like the other Ministry Families, who are not true Houses, or a younger House without any true magic of its own. Either way, I called Magical Judgment upon her, which should have just denoted her crimes against my House, my vassals, and my allies, which would have landed her in Azkaban for life for the blood quill, Dementors, and such. I was surprised as everyone else, when Heaven itself, literally, dropped its foot upon her sending her to Hell. Umbitch's crimes were so great, Magic itself, wants nothing to do with her. Her very name has been erased from the book of witches.
"That means no one can say her actual name anymore or refer to her a practicer of any kind of magic. Those crimes that were done with magic, have been undone. I will not speak of her crimes, but to say several Muggle-borns that were denied their proper place in our world will be joining us next school year, or elsewhere at the Ministry's expense. Or whoever should have been involved, if the Ministry doesn't survive this year."
"But what will happen," Hermione begun only to stop herself as she realized that the various Covens and Guilds should be more than able to replace the Ministry and all it's legal functions, and probably perform those duties better.
Harry led Hermione close as relief flooded through her. She had several nightmares of what Umbitch could have done to her and Harry had things turned out differently. He kissed her softly and lovingly, and she relaxed in his embrace.
After giving Hermione a few moments to compose herself, he remarked, "getting back to Black Sisters Situation." In a playful voice he added, "note the capitalizations." He continued in a regular voice, "Their situation is a mess as well. Basically, my mother was Lady Black. No she was not Muggle-born, but Squib-born. Both of my grandparents, my mother's parents were Squibs. My mother's father was the Squib son of Jean Grey, and my mother's mother was a Squib daughter from one of the cadet branches of House Black."
"Why does the name Jean Grey sound familiar?" Hermione asked herself. "Of course, she was the Dark Lord Grindelwald's right-hand witch! Never a darker witch ther--"
"Hush," Harry commanded her and she did. "That's my great-grandmother you're talking about. And for the record, Xavier Grindelwald is only considered a Dark Lord by the British Ministry of Magic. On the Continent, he's hailed as the Savior of Europe, what remains of Magical Germany and the surrounding area is because of him. Hell, the Muggle Allied Forces weren't doing much good until Grindelwald started to help them to defeat the Nazis. As it was, the Nazis destroyed much of Magical Europe's recent history and many of the new and young bloods families. A lot of the distrust of Muggle-borns and such came from the Nazi's use of their Muggle-raised against the established Magical communities there.
"Yes, Dumbledore is called the Slayer of the Savior on the Continent, as well as a Dark Lord that has corrupted and ruined much of Britannia. Dumbledore has also been called the Bloody Alchemist, for all that work he did on magical blood. Basking in the success of his publishing of the twelve uses of dragon blood, he looked to examine House-Elf, Goblin, and Wizard blood as well."
Hermione made to protest but could not because of Harry's command upon her. She just glared at him as he knew what she was thinking and he was not allowing her to voice it.
With a grin upon his face, he answered, "Yes, language, Harry. But that's what they call him, and yes, our dear self-proclaimed Leader of the Light is the father and leader of the Blood Purity movement that has caused many of the problems within our society today. Note as Headmaster, Dumbledore is responsible for what is taught and the conduct of both faculty and students. Note, Draco has never been punished for anything he's done or said, nor any other student for similar behavior. Only I and others that have stood up to Snape and Draco have been punished. Dumbledore has given in to the Ministry on several issues, supposedly to gain something of equal value back. But Dumbledore isn't the politician that he thinks he is. He basically gave away Hogwarts and not realizing that he has nothing left now.
"Getting back to my mother, she was born Lady Grey of House Grey, which was an old House, a cadet branch of the House Black that broke away about five hundred years ago. What I only know now, is that my parents actually got together during their fifth year, as my mom helped my dad deal with the death of his parents and all that entailed. And it was during their fifth year that Lord Cronus Black, not wishing his House be passed to the cadet branch that Sirius and the Black Sisters are apart of, blood-adopted my mother, as she was the Head of House Grey, which had been a cadet house at one point, so there was a blood-line connection. Lord Black also opened her then as well. It was only in their seventh year, during the Halloween feast where a series of pranks got out of hand that happened to involve a lot of nudity, lust spice, and sex that their relationship was exposed as was several others as well.
"My parents had kept their relationship a secret because of then growing Pure-Blood movements, as well as the fact that she was Lady Black, as my mom wasn't ready to face off against Walburga and Druella Black.
"Druella was the worse of the two. Whether she really could call upon demons or not, is not known. What is known is that there isn't a single Rosier who wasn't a Death Eater, and were in fact among Riddle's first followers. So it may have been only Riddle that truly wrote the contracts up. Either way, the contracts heavily favored the husbands and were heavily against the Black sisters. Andromeda was able to get out of her marriage by marrying Ted Tonks, a Muggle-born wizard with Lady Black's blessing. Riddle could not go against that. Fortunately, with that blessing, Andromeda retained the House protection, while losing the family magic that her mother stripped from her for defying her, which protected her and her family from the Death Eaters for the most part, but left Bellatrix and Narcissa at the mercy of Riddle and his followers.
"Since both contracts were made without Lady Black's blessing or acknowledgment, Black Magic did not consider them valid, in addition to which, Riddle was forced to put the standard marriage contract items in, which neither Malfoy nor Lestrange held up their end of the contract either. So either way, the contracts were broken. Both Lucius Malfoy and Rodolphus Lestrange are Squibs and heavily fined by Magic. Since they are still in Azkaban, they're did not last long.
"Cissy came to me seeking protection. Let's just say Dobby's treatment with the Malfoy wasn't limited to him nor because he was a House-Elf. I will say that Riddle in a somewhat successful attempt to display his control over his followers, kept Cissy and other witches that married Death Eaters from taking their OWLs and NEWTs, something that was unheard of at the time. And highly protested, but with Dumbledore's silent support, Riddle got away with it. Actually, Riddle had gotten away with a lot of which he did because Dumbledore either agreed with concept or was silent, he only protested the violence that Riddle did, not the so-called reason behind it.
"Cissy came to offer the only thing she could, herself. Riddle and the others had taken everything else. There isn't much more we can do here, so let's pick Cissy up and go get some new wands for you both."
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