Magic Knows No Boundaries But Those We Believe In (Harry Potter)

[Impossibird]

Of wow it's really blowing up on him! Great chapter, thanks for sharing and I can't wait for the next part

 

[NonsensicalRants]

Chapter 39:

A Crowded Sanctuary Part 2
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They managed the approval process for new volunteers like a conveyor belt after that.

All of the ministry workers and members of the board of governors came prepared with their background checks already finished and certified. This included Mr Weasley, Tofty, Dolores, Mrs Marchbanks the elder, Mrs Marchbanks the younger, Mafalda, Felicity, Hana, both Hagrids, Scamander and Belby.

After that, Tofty, Dolores and their gang of office ladies got straight to work. They were on fire, in the zone as they were, while Harry and his board inserted them right into their field of expertise. Managing people by doing background checks and the like.

These ladies floo'd to the ministry and back a hundred times that day, bringing copies of volunteer and patient IDs to the ministry for verification and coming back with clean slate after clean slate. The ladies just went down the road speaking to each werewolf that stood waiting, checking their identities to ensure they weren't on the run or, worse, terrorists intent on sabotaging the sanctuary.

Then the construction crew arrived, led by Hildebrand.

A dozen men, some of whom Harry could feel weren't even wizards, followed him inside and to the ground floor barracks. He couldn't imagine the licensing nightmare to have Muggles work in the wizarding world, whether they were spouses or siblings of wizards or not.

"Alright boys. Tear down that wall. We're creating an expansion outwards. Gotta double the space." Hildebrand told his men.

Harry had half expected, half hoped, that they would actually tear down said wall with explosion hexes. But no, they meticulously cut out the lath and plaster with charms while Fred and George went outside to setup a tent. A big one, like that of a circus, to hide the construction. It somehow contained that entire side of the house.

Once the interior was stripped, they removed the exterior and set that aside. Then came the really interesting magic.

The men simulcasted a transfiguration spell that compressed the dirt into a concrete-like state. It compacted the earth, removing all of the air and moisture, and partially liquefied the sand and stone to make it flow between each other before solidifying again. It was such beautiful magic he had to let Ghillie Dhu out to feel its inner workings.
From there, Hildebrand opened and tipped over a large trunk that turned out to be filled with timber. Timber that was then used to frame the extension. They didn't use nails, opting to instead to fuse the beams together similar to the transfiguring charm they had used to create the new foundation. They then carved some simple runes upon the joined to make them stretchy where the fusing was done. Harry assumed this was to simulate the give and flexibility of nails. The entire frame was one solid mass by the end of it.

They only extended it by ten meters, making sure to set up duplicate ward stones to link the old spatial expansion enchantments to the new area. The more area you had to expand, the bigger the expanded area was proportionally.

With the framing done, they threw plywood onto everything, including the new floor. The place was now properly sealed and practically finished, save for the interior walls and shingling.

"Don't worry about insulation, drywall or wallpaper today." Said Granpappy Crabbe. "Just make the outside pretty for any watchers. That means reattach the exterior we removed. Then add the new siding and shingles."

He turned to Harry.

"I already got identical siding panels and shingles. Probably have a bit extra you can put in storage for future repairs." Hilderbrand said.

Harry nodded.

"I don't like that it won't be finished today, but I recognize the necessity. We should do something to hide the floor there. Not to mention the plywood floor can't be sufficient." Harry complained.

"Oh, I brought a rug for that. And a temporary conjuration will be fine for the walls. The warming enchantments we have should be more than enough. If not, our collective charm skills are up to the task of keeping everybody cozy through the night." Hildebrand reasoned.

He was correct. Winter had yet to set in and it was proving to be a mild autumn so far.

With less than an hour until the entire werewolf population of Europe was due to flood into these walls, they finally setup the facilities properly. The shelves were converted to the military-style bunk beds and setup around the room. This still left them with a lot of empty space with no bunk beds to place there.

"We will handle that, dearie." Molly told him.

She and Andromeda got to work transfiguring the upstairs and hallway furniture, mostly Wheezes display cases and the actual furniture in their living quarters, into new bunk beds. Katie and Angelina cleared them of all personal belongings with impressive housekeeping charms of their own.

One massive, imported rug to cover the unfinished floor and an illusion spell to match the wallpaper of the room later and they were ready for their guests. Just in time too.

"Come in! Come in! Anybody allergic to wolvesbane please enter through the back door where our resident mediwitch will discuss options with you." Harry hollered over the crowd as they poured in.

He ushered them in one by one, shaking hands and accepting free hugs when offered. A few of his benefactors, namely Valentine and Mrs Zabini, stood on either side of him to help with the greeting. Both were people persons, especially Zabini who took pride in her power to make any man feel like a king with her mere smile. With how life had beaten many of these men down that small interaction was all the more powerful. They certainly needed it.

The remaining volunteers led the werewolves to their quarters, acquainting them with their facilities – bunk beds, chamber pots, curtains for privacy due to said chamber pots, and all the rest. Each was walked through the procedures, from the silvered cuffs to the checkout process.

"Professor Morrigan, you are wanted in the rear." Fred interrupted him.

Harry nodded and followed his red-haired friend to the back where Narcissa and Andromeda had monopolized a room that was now full of particularly down on their luck werewolves.

"Everybody you see here is allergic to wolvesbane." Andromeda informed him.

Wow. That was more than expected, nearly twenty of them. Nowhere near too much to handle. Hell, they could all probably fit in the downstairs fridge if it came to having to put them on ice for the night to keep them calm.

"What's the problem? We should have enough alternatives on hand." Harry asked.

"Well, when offered to be administered medical THC, Mr Hendrix had an interesting question." Narcissa said, motioning for the man to ask it again.

He stood up and did so.

"Um. My work drug tests me, and it's already difficult enough keeping a nine to five while disappearing for three days out of the month." He explained. "Can you guarantee us a cleansing potion afterwards?"

Ah. Most people referred to that expensive concoction as the hangover cure potion, but it actually removed all substances from the body that were not in the body when the potion was completed. Much like the polyjuice potion, it required material from the person to be used as a reference, which had to be the imbiber. Drop a hair in there before a night of hard drug use, then drink it the next morning. Clean drug test.

"Let me ask." Harry excused himself.

He found Lucius looking over paperwork with Dolores and her gaggle of human managing ladies. They looked to be reports on the going-ons of the facility, namely affidavits that everything was done their job to the letter. Swearing that every person was checked in properly, their identities confirmed, that everything was explained to them, yada yada. Unfortunately, it had to be done for every individual werewolf.

None of them seemed pleased to be filling them out. Harry could empathize. He'd had to do them last time.

"Mr Malfoy." Harry interrupted.

"How may we help you, Professor Morrigan." Lucius said without looking up.

"I needed to ask you if we could afford…" Harry tried to ask.

"Yes." Lucius answered before he could finish his question, again without looking up.

Harry blinked at the man.

"You don't even know what I'm about to ask you to get for us." Harry said.

"True. But any question that begins with any variation of "Can you afford" always ends in yes." He said, this time looking up. "I'm Lucius Malfoy. Of course I can afford it. That's like somebody asking you or Tom if you are capable of magical feat x. It doesn't what x is, the answer is yes."

Harry appreciated neither the man's own hubris, nor his estimation of Harry's magical prowess. That he just casually referred to and compared him to Voldemort in a room full of people was also unappreciated, though humorous as nobody else in earshot knew who he meant by Tom. Except maybe Mrs Marchbanks the elder, based on the giddy gleam in her eyes.

---

They still had hours before dark, but Andromeda and Narcissa would want to look over them long before their transformations to ensure they didn't have any illnesses or conditions they needed to be aware of. Especially allergies to wolvesbane.

Speaking of wolvesbane, Belby just returned with the marauders, each of whom was laden with cauldrons of the stuff. Around this same time, the twins and Mr Weasleywith several trunks, full of shrunken bunk beds.

They set up the new beds in the new extension to the house and got back to guiding werewolves inside to their bunks.

Harry meandered to the kitchen for a cuppa only to find Molly, Narcissa and Katie hard at work filling the dining room with food stuffs. Organizing all of the baked goods and cheeses and smoked meats that he hadn't known they had. There was barely enough space to conjure enough tables on top of tables to hold it all.

"We'll get everyone fed as soon as they're all situated dear." Molly said. "And as soon as they're cleared to stay by the more medically trained among us."

After that, all that was left for Harry to do was sit on his hands and wait for night to come around. Remus had promised to go back and bring the students over when the chaos died down.

"So, Morrigan." Mrs Shunpike greeted him from behind.

Harry sighed and turned around to see her approach. She was flanked on either side by Mrs Marchbanks, the younger, and Madame Hooch. It was an odd trio to be sure. Although he could guess how Mrs Shunpike and Mrs Marchbankes the younger had met, what, with the latter's husband formerly working in the time department of the unspeakables.

"We find our talents aren't exactly being used." Said Mrs Shunpike.

Hmmm. What to so with a seer and prophet, a sports master, and the wife of a chronomancer?

"Do we have any board games in stock?" Harry asked, turning to Hooch.

She raised an eyebrow at the suggestion.

"We sure do!" He heard George yell from another room.

Board games of muggle and wizard make alike soon filled the waiting room. Everything from checkers and chess, to shoots and ladders, to exploding snap and gobstones, to a card game about growing and trading beans. If nothing else, it had variety. Harry knew how to play maybe a handful of them, but could tell games like monopoly had to go, as they were too long and would last well into the transformations of their guests.

They began conjuring tables, small ones akin to widened foot stools, when the Hogwarts students finally arrived, escorted by Warbeck. Hermione, Ron, Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, Susan, Daphne, Neville, Marcus, Kenneth, Eddie, Cho and Miles were all here.

"Welcome Madame Warbeck, we have a large contingency of werewolves allergic to the wolvesbane that may need your attention at the moment. The rest of you? Your job today is to play board games with our guests." Harry instructed.

A series of disappointed and confused grumbles later and Harry led the teenagers, each laden with an armful of board game boxes, into the barracks areas. Harry directed them to pick the games they were familiar with and setup at one of the tables before beginning his speech.

Romulus, who had been keeping his fellow werewolves company until then, stood up to greet them, hugging Ron and fist-bumping Draco. Hadrian wondered at when they became so chummy.

"Now. Just because you are all waiting for your inevitable suffering this evening does not mean the hours leading up to it must also be suffering. These young volunteers have agreed to help you pass the time, in keeping you company and playing board or card games. We have everything from checkers, to clue, to chess and sorry. Of course, we also have the wizarding games of exploding snap and gobstones if that is more your style, but there are some strange ones here even I haven't heard of like… cid maer's civilization and… star ship command? Whatever it is, give it a shot! You might like it."

He distributed the boxes and teenagers to tables of werewolves, giving each their own. Ron made a beeline for the table with the chess board but Harry put a stop to that.

"Maybe let somebody capable of losing play against the down on their luck and in pain medical patients?" Harry whispered to the redhead.

It took a second for him to catch on, but he nodded when he finally did. Him playing chess against these people would be like Michael Jordan playing hoops with paraplegics. And playing seriously. He knew Ron, he wasn't capable of losing on purpose or going easy on somebody in chess. In fact, Harry wasn't sure how anybody could go easy on somebody in chess.

Ron sat down at a table with Chinese checkers already setup and got to work. Romulus took his place at the chess board.

Harry left Remus and Lily to supervise them all while he made sure things were going swimmingly.

"Morrigan." Lucius called him over. "I sent a messenger to Larange's Potions and Tonics. They said they have enough stock of the hangover potion to supply all of the werewolves that need it. It should be here by morning, so we should get some samples from the participants now."

Harry nodded and marched into the back room where Warbeck and Andromeda were tending to the crowd of allergy sufferers.

"We are good on the cleansing potion. Just extract some hair and follicles now and store them properly." Harry informed them.

The looks of relief on the faces of the guests was instant.

"Alright then folks, everybody down into the basement so I can drug you up and freeze you." Warbeck said with a wicked grin worthy of the serial killer she was starting to sound like.

The patients laughed nervously as they followed her. They gave him some sideways glances as they went.

Harry resisted the urge to make a joke about eating frozen fingers as snacks. He already had enough attention from ladies without the boost to his allure that Jeffery Dahmer somehow had.

The remaining couple hours passed in a blur. Harry spent it helping the other board members fill out the paperwork. It was as quiet as a pop quiz, with nothing but the sound of quills scribbling and parchment rustling. But soon the two hours were up, and the sun went down.

"Alright children, out with you! It's time for them all to be given their potion and to tuck in for a rough night. And you all have to get back to the castle." Harry told them.
Que the moaning.

Several of them looked ready to argue, but he shushed them and motioned to join him in a different room away from the ears of their patients. When they arrived in teh kitchen he put up an eavesdropping ward.

"But it's a Saturday night!(A/N 1)" Draco complained. "And there's no Hogsmeade tomorrow."

"All true. But you already learned all you were brought here to learn, and the place is far more crowded and busier than we expected. We do not have the resources to have you here today. Maybe next month." Harry said.

"And what exactly was it we learned by playing board games all day?" Hermione asked.

Warbeck entered the room, flanked by Belby and Andromeda.

"What you learned is a little thing called bedside manner." Said Warbeck. "A skill far too many neglect to develop. You just spent several hours in a room full of dangerous, unwashed, strangers and not only put them at ease, but had an enjoyable time. The ability to be kind and sociable with people of all walks of life is paramount for any healer."

Miles Bletchley and Romulus Lupin both pulled out a handy dandy notebook and began scribbling into them. Good lads! He'd been neglecting his one little notebook lately, in favor of a proper scheduler and planner, and made a mental note to start using it again.

"Alrighty then! Everybody here, save Romulus, it's time for you to make your way back to the castle." Harry said. "As for you my young mutant werewolf friend, off to the barracks with you!"

---

(A/N 1) I screwed up. The full moon on September 1996 was on a Thursday. I got it and October's confused when I wrote the grand opening chapter. Damn it all. I do all this research and still screw it up!

 

[The_White_Light]

I screwed up. The full moon on September 1996 was on a Thursday. I got it and October's confused when I wrote the grand opening chapter. Damn it all. I do all this research and still screw it up!

Click to shrink...

Gotta be the pickiest of readers to be concerned about whether a full moon actually fell on a weekend nearly 30 years ago. Just let it happen whenever is convenient for the surrounding plot.

Then again, that is the type of detail someone like Hermione would use to conclusively prove Fraudhart was a Lock...errrr

 

[NonsensicalRants]

Gotta be the pickiest of readers to be concerned about whether a full moon actually fell on a weekend nearly 30 years ago. Just let it happen whenever is convenient for the surrounding plot.

Then again, that is the type of detail someone like Hermione would use to conclusively prove Fraudhart was a Lock...errrr

Click to shrink...

It's not that I'm being picky, it's that I specifically checked and still screwed it up. That's like failing an open book exam. I am more apologizing to myself than you all.

 

[The_White_Light]

It's not that I'm being picky, it's that I specifically checked and still screwed it up. That's like failing an open book exam. I am more apologizing to myself than you all.

Click to shrink...

I didn't mean to say that you were picky, only that a reader would have to be in order the notice that sort of thing. Meant to be a "don't beat yourself up" over it, because in my opinion, if such tiny details are the only mistakes, you're doing just fine.

 

[NonsensicalRants]

I didn't mean to say that you were picky, only that a reader would have to be in order the notice that sort of thing. Meant to be a "don't beat yourself up" over it, because in my opinion, if such tiny details are the only mistakes, you're doing just fine.

Click to shrink...

I forgot I can't reply with the scene of Jim Carry beating himself andsaying he was kicking his own ass. But I'm letting you know to mentally insert it here.

 

[NonsensicalRants]

Chapter 40:

A Burning Olive Branch​

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"Alright! All non-medical personnel, out of the quarters!" Warbeck ordered.

The Marauders and some of the new adult volunteers mock-groaned like children as they exited the barracks. More than a few of the guests chuckled or outright laughed at their antics. They all grabbed the plates, utensils and unfinished carbohydrates that their guests hadn't gotten around to yet.

Harry led them into the same sitting room where the werewolves with allergies had congregated earlier. They all took their seats and waited patiently.

Narcissa, Molly, Warbeck and Belby were all administering the wolfsbane potion to the guests upstairs. Scamander, both Hagrids and Andromeda were downstairs in cold storage tending to the werewolves with allergies. Andromeda to administer the all-natural alternatives, Newt and Papa Hagrid because of their long experiences dealing with werewolves and magical creatures alike. Rubeus was ostensibly down there for the same reasons as his father, with the added bonus of being one hell of a bouncer if need be. Especially with his immunity to lycanism due to being half giant.

They were all so quiet you would think they were holding a wake. Truth be told, they were waiting for the transformations to begin, or more accurately, end. Something about being chipper and enjoying themselves while that kind of suffering was happening in damned near every other room of the house just didn't feel right.

And so, they all sat there in silence as they listened to those horrible noises. Noises of pain, noises of bestial rage, and the cries of werewolves in pain from that awful transformation. Those cries slowly died down to whimpering. Despite this quitting down nobody seemed comfortable enough to start a conversation, breaking their dour moods.

They didn't need to, as Andromeda and Narcissa joined them. They were followed by Molly and Hagrid Senior from the opposite directions at the same time.

"Madame Warbeck says we will be taking shifts in pairs." Narcissa told them.

"Time for some eating and talking." Said Hagrid senior. "Where is all of the leftover treats for our guests?"

"I'll get them. Dear, can you send a house elf to fetch us some wine?" Narcissa asked Lucius. "You know, from the wine cellar you were planning to host a werewolf rave in?"

"I don't mean to be that guy, but no drinking on the job." Harry said. "Not even responsibly."

Harry bore through the series of "awwww"s in mock complaint from the crowd as he cast a switching charm. The leftover pastries, fruit, and dip all appeared in the rooms, still on top of their tables.

"Shall I at least send an elf for syrup?" Lucius asked.

"Syrup?" Harry asked.

"For sodas." He said. "Add a bit of water and a carbonation charm, and we will have ourselves plenty of virgin drinks."

"Oh yeah! That, we can do." Harry told him.

And so, they supped.

They ate, they drank non-alcoholic beverages, they talked, they joked, and they laughed.

Lucius didn't hold back on the sodas either. He had a lot of unique syrups, one of a homemade sugar plum recipe which he claimed was gifted to him by a business partner from Malaysia which was a huge hit between them all. There was also a syrup for almost every berry and citrus fruit. Harry particularly liked the almost Dr Pepper with a little more anise or fennel than it ought to have, making it taste more like absinthe or sambuca than a Dr Pepper ripoff. It had a nice amaretto undertone to it. Very nutty. It went great with the almond cream fritters.

"I am in the mood to dance with my husband, will you allow us?" Narcissa asked.

Lucius already eagerly stood up at her words, as did Molly and Arthur, the latter of whom was practically lifted out of his seat by his wife.

"I don't know…" Harry said, thinking of the guests in the other room.

"We can play some slow, relaxing music on the wireless deary." Said Molly. "And have them projected into the other rooms."

Oh wow! That was a great idea. Why hadn't they thought of that? Some smooth jazz or relaxing house music to bring some peace to their guests.

"Mrs Tonks?" Harry asked, looking to the present mediwitch. "Your professional medical opinion?"

"I think it is an excellent idea. It will be a boon to the mood of our guests." Said Andromeda.

"Very well. Turn on the wireless. Only a slow music station though." Harry said.

Soon, the sound of hi hats, bass guitars and saxophone filled the entirety of the Shrieking Shack. It was played at a quiet enough volume to still hear everything in the other rooms. Slowly, the pitiful groans and whimpers of their werewolf guests died down as the volunteers began to dance. The tapping of their feet on wood turned out to be a little loud though, so he insisted they remove their shoes and dance on their socks, which was much better.

All of the couples took to the center of the room. Lucius and Narcissa danced beside Arthur and Molly who danced beside Lily and James who danced beside Sirius and Arianna. Remus eventually picked out Mrs Figg and, more strangely, Ian Hagrid picked out Mrs Shunpike for a dance partner.

Harry looked around for somebody to dance with himself and was once again struck by how similar Andromeda looked to her sister. He threw the idea away as soon as it entered his head, but not before Andromeda noticed his glance.

"Well, Mister Morrigan? Aren't you going to ask me to dance?" She asked.

"That's a bad idea. You're married, and I have a girlfriend." He said.

Andromeda pointed out to the dancers, who were at that moment exchanging partners. Sirius was now dancing with Lily while James danced with Arianna. Meanwhile Lucius was doing the same with Molly as Arthur charmed his own wife.

Harry understood her point, while she was pretending not to understand his own.

"I really don't want to dance with my girlfriend's lookalike of a sister." He said. "I get the distinct impression that may bring up some old grudges between the two of you."

She tilted her head innocently.

"Does my sister seem the jealous type?" She asked.

"Yes. Both of them do." He said, tilting his head to the dancers.

Andromeda looked up in time to see Narcissa giving Lucius and Molly's laughing forms a sideways stink eye. She laughed at her sister's unfounded insecurity.

"Okay, point. But she doesn't scare me. Not much she can do to me." Andromeda offered again.

"She does me and can to me. The answer is no." Harry refused with a tone of finality.

"You're just a coward." Andromeda said, folding her arms and legs. "One who takes joy in disappointing beautiful women."

Harry had to blink at the strange non sequiter, and suspected he just got a glimpse into a private conversation shemust have had with Bellatrix recently.

"But I'm not! And I don't!" An especially giddy Peter Pettigrew said as he approached and offered a hand.

Andromeda took it and the two were off to their dancing. With both seats next to him now vacant, Valentine and Hildebrand closed in, sandwiching him.

"I did not expect an actual party today." Said Hildebrand. "Else I would have worn nicer work clothes."

"Let alone a dance party between purebloods and Muggleborns." Said Valentine. "Reminds me of the days before World War Two."

Harry glanced at him, before motioning for him to continue.

"Well, Shunpike there used to be the bell of many balls back in the day. Though back then we had chaperons surgically attached to all of us." Said Valentine.

Really? That was a side of her Harry had never heard of. He leaned in to listen carefully.

"Really?" Said Hooch, who was sitting nearby. "That's a side of her I've never heard of. Do go on."

He shrugged and went on.

"When I was young, muggleborns, purebloods, and all host of people joined for parties and nonprofit events and balls and things were fine." He said. "She was the sweetest little Hufflepuff, from a Muggle family up in East Yorkshire. She brought in all of the new dances from the swing scene. Our elders didn't much appreciate her or her little gal gang's introduction of Muggle dresses but introduce them they did."

"A lot of us young men at the time had never seen anything so ostentatious." Said Hildebrand. "And a lot of us pursued those girls for marriage solely because of the force of personality and sexuality they presented. But she was brilliant, and some of us pursued her for that. Damned that Shunpike for getting her."

"Those were better days." Mrs Marchbanks the older said. "I remember taking Lucius's own grandfather to Muggle London for clubbing and he was just starstruck with it all. We are all so lively back then, thinking that the horrors of the great war were behind us."

"Then Muggles had to go and have a population explosion, flooding us with more immigrants than we could handle. Then stupidity took over everyone and everything is fucked!" Valentine said.

Their dancing coworkers all stopped their little party and were looking to the three of them.

Harry reached out with his senses and, sure enough, Valentine had used a switching charm on the liquid in his goblet. That was straight vodka he was drinking.

Lucius stepped in.

"Come on sir. It's take you home." Said Lucius. "Now is not the time for politics."

"Then when is?!" Valentine demanded. "Here we all are, professional, respectful and respectable people breaking bread and dancing together. When else will we have such an opportunity to just talk things out?"

Nobody had an answer to that.

"It's been so long since we've all gotten along like this." Valentine said. "Then this upstart, who I'm seventy five percent sure isn't at all who he claims to be, comes in like an angel and just shatters all of our carefully constructed facades and barriers between our cliques. Makes it feel like we're in a real society again! And it should make me happy, but it just makes me sad."

The candidness of a drunk man, especially an older and hardened one, was a powerful thing. Everybody shrugged and patiently returned to their seats. Harry noticed most of the purebloods sat on the left side of the room, even Molly, Arthur and Sirius, while the half or less sat on the right with Harry. He hadn't actually voiced a side, but it was nice of them to assume.

They all just looked at each other, as if giving the floor to any other parties to begin.

"Hadrian." Hildebrand said. "I think we may all benefit from your thoughts. You tend to be candid and wise. Not to mention neutral."

Candid and neutral? Not so much. He had the choice between one or the other, and he chose candid.

"I grew up raised by Muggle relatives not even knowing I was a wizard." Harry said. "And I can honestly say; fuck everything Muggle. Fuck their society, their view on marriage and family, their politics, their other politics, their other other politics, their horrific Prussian model schools, and especially their economics. It's almost universally terrible. Even their fashion and music has gone to shit in these last few years. But wizarding society? Sure, it has problems. Lots of problems, but I love it. I love magic. I love the sense of community that still exists here. And I see no solutions to its problems coming from the 'enlightened' Muggle-raised who think modern Britain, or any Muggle country, has the answers to them."

Apparently, they weren't properly prepared for a candid conversation, that or they were all realizing how off they were in estimating his positions. Lily in particular was gaping at him and Sirius was making an 'oh' face to try and stop himself from smiling in awe at Harry's little speech.

"I think you hinted at the biggest issue. It really is the attitude." Lucius said. "Muggleborns coming into our society and daring to call themselves 'progressive' when their society is so far behind us on almost all of the issues they complain about ours having, and in some are backsliding into greater inequity. I think its because a lot of them think magical Britain is part of Muggle Britain and owes any fealty to their psychopathic royal family, let alone their laws?"

Lily stood up to argue her point but Mrs Marchbanks the elder pulled her back down.

"They are hurling words dear, as opposed to spells. Let us remain calm and ask questions." Marchbanks the elder said. "What issues in particular do you feel Muggle society utterly fails at but that Muggleborns try to criticize us for? I can only think of a few."

Dolores made that atrocious sound with her throat that was like a cross between a cough and a laugh, though with actual humor for once.

"I can't think of one that isn't hypocritical!" She said. "Especially the young women who come with their feminist ideas. Daring to claim our society is less egalitarian between the sexes, when we are quite literally two millenia ahead of them in it."

Her words riled up the other pureblood women, the pureblood and muggleborn men alike all retreating into their chairs as they went.

"We actually put female murderers and rapists behind bars for one." Said Andromeda. "Instead of having a separate legal classification like 'made to penetrate' or 'sudden infant death syndrome.' Sudden is right!"

"Yeah, we aren't big on murdering or chopping up babies over here." Said Narcissa, backing up her sister. "And no, I don't mean abortion, I mean actually murdering your babies and getting away with it because police won't investigate, or judges won't convict making up nonsense excuses like post-partem depression."

"Post partem depression is very real." Said Andromeda.

"So are many other mental illnesses, none of them are an excuse for murder, and what few almost are still ought to result in life behind bars for the criminally insane. Padded bars, with medically trained people to watch over them." Said Narcissa. "And it's also no excuse for genitally mutilating your baby boys."

"Wait, what?" Lucius, Arthur, Alecto, Molly, Dolores, and several other purebloods all asked at once.

"Oh yeah. Seven days old, no anesthesia, lopping off foreskins." Said Narcissa, looking to Andromeda to confirm her claim which she did with a nod. "They are at least progressive enough to only do it to the boys. And that still is hardly the worst of their seeming man hatred."

"That is so... so…" Dolores said, grasping for words. "Savage! You're savages!"

Valentine stood up and Dolores recoiled at his face.

"Civil. Please." He said, with a sigh.

He then sat back down and seemed to deflate into a man of… well, his age. He spoke then, and everyone listened.

"Most of mine and Hildebrands complaints come from our age and long memories." He said. "We were there. In World War two. To us, it is a fresh memory. Muggleborns act like it was so long ago, that they have radically changed since then, but I don't see it. Not least of all because they do not disavow or ban the ideologies of socialism and communism and their policies which did so much evil in Germany and Russia, respectively… and China… and Cuba… and South Africa... and… you get the point."

"From the outside it does look like the Muggle world is a powder-keg ready for another world war at any minute." Said Hildebrand. "In fact, such atrocities continue in distant lands and you all just pretend they aren't happening. We never enslaved our fellow human beings as wizards, but how many million still live in bondage in your nations?"

"Forty million, give or take." Mrs Marchbanks the elder said, helpfully.

Several people gave her questioning looks at that piece of trivia and how she knew it.

"But every now and then a young boy or girl comes into our nations demanding we commit genocide against elves by freeing them all." Said Lucius. "That our relationships are akin to slavery, when it is the house elves that bond to us and our homes to survive, not the other way around."

Lily made a guilty face and Harry suspected she may have waged her own S.P.E.W crusade once upon a time before being informed that elves are actually brownies. That they would literally die without a host family to bond to. How Hermione didn't guess there was more to people with wands owning creatures to magically clean their homes instead of just waving said wands still baffled Harry.

They were quiet again after that.

Eventually Arthur chuckled and added a point.

"I always felt that the problem was that they just don't seem to get that they are immigrants in a foreign nation and treat it like its their own." Said Arthur. "The funny thing is, we do work so hard to make it palatable to Muggleborns. We even change our business laws to make it easier for registering LLCs or non profits, as Morrigan can attest."

Oh hey! Harry somehow missed the strangeness of the registration process for his nonprofit being identical to that of Muggle Britain. Had he actually registered in both nations when he made the sanctuary? He needed to go talk to the goblins about that.

"But there is a naturalization process, or at least there's supposed to be. There's also a readymade exit clause." Said James, speaking for the first time. "Muggleborns can always just… leave. Muggle society is still open to them if they hate ours so much. And once they get their owls or newts they are trained enough to conceal their magic and live normal Muggle lives. It's a large part of the Hogwarts curriculum, actually. Training young witches and wizards in magic that will help them to fit in with Muggle societies, if they can't fit in here."

"Is that what you want darling?" Said Lily. "For me to leave you and go to live with Tuni?"

"No! Well, maybe, if that would make you happy and safe." Said James.

Lily's face ran the gambit of emotions from hurt to touched as she caught her husband's meaning behind the words.

"I'm still caught up on the whole 'legal for women to rape men' thing and cutting up baby boys genitals." Said Alecto. "I thought that was only done in desert countries without soap or running water, or penis cleaning charms."

There were specifically penis cleaning charms? Was there a smegma-begone charm Harry was supposed to learn in Madame Pomphrey's sex ed class?

"Oh, don't worry." Said Mrs Shunpike. "Their women have been raised to parade themselves around like sex objects and demeans femininity to the point that motherhood and wifedom are vilified and women are just treated as defective men at worst, and unaccountable children at best."

"And we haven't gotten to the bizarreness of Muggle racial tensions." Said Sirius. "At least the racial tensions we have in the wizarding world are with beings that are actually of another species with irreconcilable differences, meanwhile Muggles can't get along with people of different skin colors, but want to talk to us about giving giants and centaurs rights in our countries? Rights they would never extend to us in theirs?"

Ian half glared; half shrugged in agreement to that bit about giants. After the shit he went through to be even slightly welcomed into giant society, he better not disagree with that sentiment. Dislike it? Sure. Argue against it? Absolutely not.

This time Harry stood up and raised his hands to quiet everybody down.

"Ladies and gentleman of the pureblood persuasion, I think you have spent enough time airing your grievances. Perchance let the other side speak?" Harry offered.

"Thank you, Professor." Said Arianna.

The half-blood woman stood up and cleared her throat. She then straightened her back and raised her hands as if she were about to make a long-winded and erudite argument.

"Voldemort…" She said matter of factly.

The entire room burst into full-bellied laughter. Even Lucius had to reach out and steady himself on an equally unsteady Sirius.

The name Voldemort was pretty much sufficient to explain the issues that recent Muggleborns and their families had with wizarding society.

Harry managed to wipe the tears from his eyes and noticed that Hildebrand and Valentine weren't laughing.

"Counter point. Serial killers like the Brown family that targeted purebloods who owned house elves. Killing their entire families. Or the Lullaby killer, who systematically targeted the children of pureblood families with her insane ideology of us being inbred and in need of miscegenation." Hildebrand offered.

Both people Voldemort specifically hunted down and publicly executed during his rise to power, earning him many followers. And both of whom inspired serial killers on the other side. The latter Voldemort hadn't been so great at stopping.

This was a circular topic that would lead them nowhere.

"Well, I don't think there's anything we can say that you won't dismiss out of hand." Peter said. "You all said yourselves that our society and its ideas or ideals are anathema, and poison. Any criticism we might lobby against wizarding society you will claim stem from oir arrogant and hypocritical society."

"Hmm. Fair point." Said Amycus. "But what I think you fail to understand is that you have no right to criticize our society at all. It is OUR society. Our country. We are painfully cognizant of its problems; they are ours to fix."

Peter gaped at the audacity of that counter argument. It was a little unthinkable to somebody of British stock, so Harry intervened.

"Question." Said Harry. "If you emigrated to Muggle… somebody pick a non-European culture?"

"Philippines?" Tofty offered.

"Okay. Philipines. If you emigrated to the Muggle Philipines, and you decided you wanted to raise a stink about its politics or society. What would happen to you?" Harry asked.

"I can answer that." Said Sirius. "That is specifically illegal. You will be arrested and or deported."

Harry wondered at how Sirius would know that, before deciding he'd probably vacationed there and found out the hard way by acting a fool.

"Okay." Said Harry. "Anybody want to name another non-European country? Or will the second verse be the same as the first? And the third. And the twentieth. My point here, is that wizarding society treats Muggleborns far and above better than even other Muggle nations would. They've certainly treated me better than the Muggle nation I grew up in."

'When I wasn't the poster child of their military opposition' – He added mentally. Being Hadrian Morrigan, an open-minded half-blood who was respectful and curious about their society? Wizarding society had been great to that guy. Hell, they were great to Harry after Voldemort was gone.

"But Voldemort?" Arianna repeated.

"A nuclear option, and a mostly empty threat." Lucius answered. "As you don't seem to understand your mere existence is a nuclear threat against us, literally. If wizarding existence is ever exposed to Muggles, an eventuality each of you are capable of bringing, you know what will happen."

Andromeda cut in.

"Well, the first thing that will happen is Muggle governments the world over will begin kidnapping Muggleborns to perform scientific investigations on you so inhumane as to make Unit 731 look like an ethically sound research clinic." She said.

Holy shit! Harry hadn't thought of that. Oh man, was he a specist? Because he fully believed Muggle societies would do that. All of them would absolutely do that. He was going to have nightmares about that.

"The second thing that would happen is war, because your feckless royal family would see our lands as their lands." Lucius added. "As would most nations. That would mean nuclear annihilation, and retaliatory city-consuming fiendfires with no wizard interested in putting them out, or basilisks being released into Olympic stadiums to petrify everyone in the world through television. With nowhere near enough mandrakes to cure even a fraction of them."

Harry appreciated Lucius just laying out Voldemort's contingency plans for the eventuality of a Muggle-wizard war. Killing the basilisk in the chamber just jumped up in priority. It was time to go buy a rooster.

"Reminder." Said Sirius. "You can leave. We can't. This is our only country. The only one where we can continue our culture. You already have a country that is the way you want ours to be. If it means that much to you, you can go there."

"But without magic." Said Peter.

"You mean our magic?" Said Lucius. "Invented by our ancestors and those who emigrated into and assimilated into our society? That magic? The magic we shared freely asking only that you be one of us? Lily Potter, you are an outstanding witch. As is your protege. Any one of us would be honored to have you or her as parts of our families. But you don't treat us like family, as we do each other and tried to do to you. You don't want to seem to be a part of it. We are willing to open our homes for you if you want to be in them. That's what magic is to us. And it means more than you know when we share it with you."

He leaned back into his seat in an undignified and defeated manner.

"I think, it would make us purebloods unbelievably happy if you all just said… thank you, once in a while, for being so good to you despite how hard it was. But I think we really have reached the point in society where all we have to say is 'either assimilate or get the hell out of our country.'" Lucius explained, throwing his hands up.

"Or die?" Marchbanks the elder asked.

"It shouldn't get to that." Said Valentine. "It should never have gotten close to that as part of the ultimatum. But I guess, yeah? If the choice is the continuation of life on the planet, our continued exists as a society, or a civil war, guess which we're picking?"

Everyone slouched at that declaration.

"So that's it then?" Said Harry. "Are we at an impasse? All of these brilliant people in one room, and we can only come up with three options. Integrate, separate, or continue this ludicrous war? Cold though it may have become."

Most of the room chuckled nervously at his words. Others nodded sadly to them. Arthur actually laughed.

"I mean, there's also just doing away with the statute of secrecy and making peace with Mugglekind." He offered in obvious jest. "Then we can just have our divorce and Muggleborns can go built their magic utopia somehwere else."

Harry felt his eyes widen at Arthur's words. Partly because that was exactly the solution Harry was gunning for in his own timeline, and eventually this one, but mostly because of who Arthur was the father of.

It might have just been wishful thinking, but perhaps Ron had inherited his 'prediction in jest' ability? God, Harry hoped so.

Just then the smooth jazz coming over the radio stopped, replaced by a repeated beeping sound. One meant to signify an emergency broadcast.

Everybody groaned expecting truly terrible news, but not the voice that came from the other end.

"Good evening, Europe." Said Voldemort. "This is your resident Dark Lord speaking."

Harry closed his eyes. This couldn't be good news. Here came the declaration of war, or offer of money to hitmen to retrieve Hadrian's head or something. And almost five days early too.

"I have good news." Voldemort went on. "I am calling for a truce."

---

And I've finally done it. I've finally dissected and explored what wizards believe.

They are essentially aliens watching human society from the outside in secret. Any alien species would look and us and say "Oh. They're chopping off pieces of their baby boys for no medical reason other than so mommy can like the way his cock looks and to avoid the uncomfortable conversation of teaching them to wash said cock... yeah, these are savages." Let alone the fact slavery of our own species still exists on the planet today, made to penetrate laws exist and so much more. No, if I were them, I wouldn't want us emigrating there either.

They really are more egalitarian than us and have been for at least 2000 years. Actual equality between the sexes. Wands are greater equalizer between men and women than smith and wesson or any modern technology, a prerequisite for gender equality(Being equally capable in both labor and violence). And this is actual equality. The kind feminists REALLY don't like. Bellatrix Lestrange went to prison instead of getting the Manson girl treatment. Case closed. The only conservative thing about these people is the family structure, whcih we are quickly learning was kind of important and is not antithetical to equality in and out of the home. And I expect people to call me a misogynist for believing that female rapists and murderers belong in prison. We live in a society where THAT is a radical belief. And I never saw ANY racism in the books. Specism? Yes. But us Muggles coming in and criticizing that seems a bit out of line considering the now extinct Neanderthals and Denisovans. And you don't need to be an animal rights activist to see we don't exactly treat nonhumans with the same dignity and with the same rights as we do humans.

Now imagine being a member of a truly gender and racial equal society, and somebody from our society comes in trying to stir things up. Compound this with the difficult question "are muggles and wizards even the same species?" which I don't have an answer for.

There really is no real-life comparison here. This is purely fictional politics. Plenty of countries with an immigration crisis, but not one that has to keep its existence a complete secret, is bordered by a nation of people that outnumber them 10,000 to 1, aren't even of the same species, live in the stone age, and have weapons capable of annihilating all life on earth, takes part in slavery of their own people and regularly genocides its own people through targeted starvation or death camps. Now imagine if those people were holier than thou brits with a superiority complex and recall how much South Africa and India appreciated that attitude, and you have magical Britain.

This is an insanely interesting scenario, and one that I enjoyed exploring. But that exploration is over. Now it's time for shit to get really crazy. There is one more chapter of peace before shit hits the fan and it's all out action from there. Oh, and the romance between Harry and Bella finally comes to fruition next chapter.

 

[Cyrus2]

Well that was a surprise ending, and I throughly enjoyed the breakdown of views of how the pure bloods view muggles and muggleborn.

 

[theaceoffire]

"YOU ARE A BABY KILLER!" ~Public

"But does that mean we can't just all get along?" ~Voldemort. Apparently.

 

[Vanbers]

I mean, as easy as it's always been to paint every single 'Pureblood' as a borderline nazi asshole with no good reason to do what they do, I always felt that was more due to Voldemort pushing everything to it's extremes.

The points raised are pretty obvious ones, since even in canon, the Wizarding World and it's traditions are treated as backwards and silly, which no doubt comes off as incredibly disrespectful to the people living in that culture, who basically welcome the outsiders in with open arms, even teaching them their abilities.

Like the first time a muggleborn/half-blood started lobbying to change a tradtition or holiday, or to ban a school/type of magic, that's probably where a lot of Pureblood sentiment comes from. They've been living happily for centuries, then some new guy storms in telling you you're backwards and stupid, and that you need to change to fit their sensibilities, after they were welcomed in with open arms? Yeah, it makes sense how Voldemort got so many recruits.

Especially since I have not doubt the muggleborns genuinely think they're helping, which no doubt comes off as deeply, deeply patronising and insulting when they do it.

"YOU ARE A BABY KILLER!" ~Public

"But does that mean we can't just all get along?" ~Voldemort. Apparently.

Click to shrink...

Voldemort: "Oh come on now, who *hasn't* killed a baby or three? Stop being ridiculous."

 

[NonsensicalRants]

I mean, as easy as it's always been to paint every single 'Pureblood' as a borderline nazi asshole with no good reason to do what they do, I always felt that was more due to Voldemort pushing everything to it's extremes.

The points raised are pretty obvious ones, since even in canon, the Wizarding World and it's traditions are treated as backwards and silly, which no doubt comes off as incredibly disrespectful to the people living in that culture, who basically welcome the outsiders in with open arms, even teaching them their abilities.

Like the first time a muggleborn/half-blood started lobbying to change a tradtition or holiday, or to ban a school/type of magic, that's probably where a lot of Pureblood sentiment comes from. They've been living happily for centuries, then some new guy storms in telling you you're backwards and stupid, and that you need to change to fit their sensibilities, after they were welcomed in with open arms? Yeah, it makes sense how Voldemort got so many recruits.

Especially since I have not doubt the muggleborns genuinely think they're helping, which no doubt comes off as deeply, deeply patronising and insulting when they do it.



Voldemort: "Oh come on now, who *hasn't* killed a baby or three? Stop being ridiculous."

Click to shrink...

Well I think it's more the sudden influx and increase in the amount of muggleborns really.

The population of the planet doubled in the 19th century. Then TRIPLED on top of that in the 20th century. That's a lot more muggleborns than wizarding society was equipped to handle. And all the way back in Salazar's day, Muggleborns presented a minor threat to their way of life, though he was seeing a bit too far into the future. He wasn't taken seriously not because he was wrong on principle, but because Muggles couldn't touch them. Then we went and invented nukes. And chemical weapons. And bioweapons. And satellite systems.

Edit: And as far as we know Harry was the only baby he tried to kill. And when he came back after that he was well and truly broken from 13 years as a shade. Genuinely insane, along with his dementor tortured followers.

 

[Jao]

I think the difference between wizards/witches and muggles is like the difference between modern humans and neanderthals, but more closer in relation.

 

[NonsensicalRants]

I think the difference between wizards/witches and muggles is like the difference between modern humans and neanderthals, but more closer in relation.

Click to shrink...

Yes, I agree completely. And we eradicated neanderthals.

My headcanon says wizards/witches are classified as "Homo Arcanum" as a species.

 

[Jao]

My headcanon says wizards/witches are classified as "Homo Arcanum" as a species.

Click to shrink...

My name for them is Homo Magicus

 

[NonsensicalRants]

My name for them is Homo Magicus

Click to shrink...

Actually now that I think about it, wouldn't it be Homo Sapien Arcanum(or whatever)? We are actually homo sapien sapiens.

 

[Chazz]

Also, slattery is a word. It means unity. hasn't been in use for half a millennia, but the sorting hat knows a lot of words not in common use anymore. Also, I REALLY want to write the story of Hogwarts founding based on this poem, but I have to finish all of these projects first.

Click to shrink...

Any chance you can provide a reference to this? Cause I can only find one real definition for slattery, that being untidy or messy.

 

[NonsensicalRants]

Any chance you can provide a reference to this? Cause I can only find one real definition for slattery, that being untidy or messy.

Click to shrink...

Autocorrect screwed me. Yes, dirtiness and untidiness. apparently I misspelled dirty and it changed to unity.

 

[Dur'id the Druid]

Just my 2c on this. Muggle and magicals do interbreed, and new mages keep getting born in muggle families. They are not true diffrent species. And I know a lot of fanfic say that the inbreeding of purebred families and society stigma agnist muggle-born are the real source of more squids being born.

And remember in cannon some of these families risk, and probably do quietly kill their own kids if they don't show magic soon enough. Wasn't Neville Longbottom tossed out a window by Augusta Longbottom when he wasn't showing signs of magic soon enough?

 

[NonsensicalRants]

Just my 2c on this. Muggle and magicals do interbreed, and new mages keep getting born in muggle families. They are not true diffrent species. And I know a lot of fanfic say that the inbreeding of purebred families and society stigma agnist muggle-born are the real source of more squids being born.

And remember in cannon some of these families risk, and probably do quietly kill their own kids if they don't show magic soon enough. Wasn't Neville Longbottom tossed out a window by Augusta Longbottom when he wasn't showing signs of magic soon enough?

Click to shrink...

3 Things.

First, being able to interbreed is no longer a criteria for differentiating species. There are different breeds of dogs that ARE the same species but CAN'T breed together and there are animals of completely different species that can interbreed and produce offspring capable of reproducing themselves. The differences in mere ability between Homo Sapiens Sapiens and Homo Sapiens Arcanum are enough to constitute different species.

Second, that's the headcanon of other writers which I don't agree with. Beyond the inbreeding mostly being in line with what actual people were doing within living memory of these "purebloods". Regular humans all over the west still regularly had first or second cousin marriages all the way up to the mid 20th century, and less commonly siblings. Plenty of first world countries still somewhat practice it and many of the third world does, especially Islamic and African nations, or tribal nations in North America and Australia. It's especially common amongst African Americans here in the US. This is not me promoting this practice AT ALL, but I need to keep reminding people. These are people that regularly live to 160. They have OLD traditions, for better and worse.

Third: That's just wizards not being concerned at all with injuries. Maybe it's because wizards are so much more durable or magical medicine being so excellent, but the acceptable level of injury and danger wizards tolerate for their children makes any OSHA worker faint. Children play quidditch without adult supevision for god's sake! Flying on brooms at high speed with canonballs trying to hit them. Not to mention the lack of safety standards in classes like potions.

 

[NonsensicalRants]

Chapter 41:

A Typical Halloween​

---

Saturday morning came around and Harry was the last man standing, as it were.

Half of the volunteers had gone home to get some sleep and return in the mid-morning to relieve those who preferred to run on no sleep than insufficient sleep. Harry was one of them, hating the grogginess of a four to six hour nap in favor of the tiredness of an all-nighter.

Nothing of further note happened, really. Everybody was a bit tongue tied and looking somewhat shell-shocked by the declaration of peace. It was also possible that everybody, on both sides of their unexpected debate, also felt greatly humbled by their expanded worldviews, or else embarrassed and uncomfortable with their conduct the night before, that they were just walking on eggshells around one another.

Harry found it indescribably amusing, but kept his good humor to himself as there was work to be done.

The werewolf guests slowly recover throughout the morning. All of them looked and sounded like people coming to with a horrific hangover, especially those who had been stoned through the night.

Those workers who had gone home returned, looking similarly dreary, and got to work making their guests feel like human beings again. They helped the guests shower, in the two separate shower rooms they had prepared for male and female guests. There was a third bathroom, but that strictly belonged to his renters.

Guests were showered one by one, by hand, as a volunteer of the guests choice sat them down in the shower seat and washed them down with hot water. It was slow work, cleaning them two by two, and lunch rolled around by the time they were done with it. At this point, the guests were feeling normal enough to feed themselves and so they were provided extra black coffee and what remained of the food stuffs.

From there, the detox potions administered and everybody was given a physical. Thereupon they learned that many of them hadn't had a checkup, medical or dental, in years, and so the lovely mediwitches provided them all with such.

By the time everything was said and done, it was nearing evening, and the werewolves were cleared to go home. Or back to being homeless, in some cases.

Hildebrand, Lucius and Valentine along with the workers from yesterday were waiting outside offering transportation... and job application forms on the sly. Everybody else pretended not to notice. It was a blind eye that needed to be turned.

They would still get a little sick throughout the night, maybe grow some extra hair or have their teeth become uncomfortably pointed, but they wouldn't fully transform or be infectious. That only happened on the day of the full moon proper.

Everybody cleaned the place up, returned the transfigured furniture back to their original states, and helped the wheezes put their wheezes back onto the restored shelves. Hands were shaken, hugs and busses were doled out, and people went home promising to return on the following full moon.

Harry was the last to leave, save for two main guests. Hildebrand and Mrs Shunpike. The former came forward as the latter stood away patiently.

"It looks like I may have some new employees to process over the next few days, and I would like to have them do the finishing on your extension when they're ready to start. Can I count on you to hire us to finish the job?" He asked.

"You can count on it." Harry promised with a smile.

Hildebrand shook his hand and exited through the front door.

Mrs Shunpike approached him, with her hands folded demurely in front of her.

"Is there something you need to warn me about?" Harry asked.

She tilted her head curiously at him.

"That I am able to talk to you about? Very little you don't already suspect." She told him.

Problem was, he suspected such a wide myriad of often contradictory things about so many subjects, people and organizations – especially in regards to the Unspeakables – that this affirmation meant literally nothing to him.

"I actually wanted to speak to you about your battle precognition ability." She said.

"Battle precognition ability?" Harry asked, confused.

"Yes. Both Madame Marchbanks and young Figg described your ability to dodge and attack as if by precognition in your mock duel." She said.

Harry made an "oooh" mouth and smiled.

"It's not precognition. It's actually related to my skill with wandless magic. It's complicated." He explained.

She blinked at him.

"I imagine my other self took great pleasure in researching such an ability." She fished.

"Sure. But she had to wait in line with all of the other Unspeakables, and half of the magical researchers on the planet." Harry asked humorously. "The latter of whom I found much more palatable and honest."

She shrugged.

"That's more than fair. I bid you goodnight, Professor Morrigan." She told him before leaving.

Harry closed the door behind her and sighed. It was done.

"Floo should be up and running in twenty." Said Katie.

"Thanks. But I can walk home in that time." Harry replied.

"Or you could shower here in that time and by the time you floo back to your office you can just swap to pajamas and plop into bed." Lee suggested.

Harry was honestly flabbergasted by the brilliance of such a suggestion and took it in stride. Twenty minutes later he did floo back into his office. Being freshly showered he cast a switching charm on the clothes he was wearing, replacing them with soft, silk pajamas.

When he finally got into bed he remained conscious long enough to feel Headwig glide over to sit on his bedpost, before falling into blissful sleep.

---

Harry woke up to a letter from Andromeda.

It was a party invitation, for Halloween evening.

I took the liberty of inviting Lucius, Cissy, and Bella. Of course my husband and daughter will be there as well. You joining us would make it a full party.

Costumes required.​

Harry jotted a quick acceptance before thinking on it. Right, Nymphadora was going to be there. Which meant they were missing one important person. He accepted under the condition that he be able to bring Remus along. It was time to play matchmaker.

He checked Bella's calendar, which she had gifted him so he could know when she was free for a date, and saw she was training today… With Fleur Delacour. Yeah, he didn't want to be anywhere near that storm, so instead, he spent his Sunday patrolling the halls, catching troublemakers, docking points, and thankfully avoiding handing out any detentions.

It was a good Sunday. That evening he wrote a few letters, such as the one to Hildebrand's company offering to hire them to finish the job on the Shrieking Shack, at which time he received a reply from Andromeda accepting his conditions.

He then turned in.

Classes that week turned out to be a bit on the melancholy side. With the three-day weekend following Halloween on Thursday, he couldn't get the students to pay much attention to anything at all.

Especially not with news of a ceasefire and respite from the constant fear of terrorist attacks and assassinations, on both sides of the great hall, everyone seemed so much… lighter. Some students outright began skipping between classes like Luna, who curiously did not, content to watch others bemusedly as they took up her usual method of getting from class to class.

Those four days came and went, where the only thing of interest to happen was a short chat with Remus.

"Oh hey, I'm going to the Tonks household Thursday night. You're my plus one." Harry told him.

Remus shrugged.

"Okay." Was his simple reply.

Then Halloween arrived. His class, like the others this week, were instructed to read and catch up on other class work or finish their homework from said classes. He had yet to break his oath not to assign the crap thus far, an oath none of his coworkers had taken issue with thankfully.

He had to admit, his anxiousness was growing as the day wore on. But to be fair, the fecal matter striking the fan part of Halloween usually came in the evening. Dinner time at the earliest, which arrived far too quickly for his liking.

It was announced by a knock on his door.

"Come in Remus!" Harry called out.

Remus walked in, dressed up for Halloween as a red shirt.

"Star Trek? I imagine only Teddy and maybe Tonks will get that." Harry told him.

"Aren't all of them Tonkses?" Remus asked.

"No, I mean their daughter. She prefers to just be called Tonks." Harry warned.

"But Nymphadora is such a pretty name." He tried to get out without snickering but failed. "But anyways, where is your costume?"

Harry removed his robe, to reveal he was wearing a simple pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

"Responsible Adult costume." Remus read his shirt. "Well now you're just living in fantasy land."

Harry smirked at the humorous man and motioned him over to the fireplace. He flood to the Tonks household first and was greeted by the entire Malfoy clan. Of course, he didn't readily recognize them at first.

Lucius was dressed as Dracula, the Bela Lugosi one, not the one that looked uncomfortably similar to Sirius. Or who knew, maybe he was going for Christopher Lee? But even Lucius Malfoy couldn't pull off that level of posh and gentlemanliness.

Next to him was Narcissa dressed as Bride of Frankenstein. She somehow made the look more attractive than the original actress.

"Putting Elsa Lanchester to shame?" He complimented.

Draco was the odd one out. He was easily recognized, as he wore only a toga. The back of which had knife hilts sticking out like porcupine quills.

"Julius Ceaser?" Harry guessed.

Draco tapped his nose.

Remus flood in behind him and also took a moment to realize who he was looking at. He eventually smiled and shook everyone's hands.

"Star Trek huh? Uncle Ted loves that stuff. I think it's more boring than flobberworms." Draco said.

"And who are you supposed be?" Remus asked.

"Julius!" He said, in a voice that almost sounded like a father disappointed in his son.

Remus reached out pulled one of the knives out of his back to reveal a full-on blade. He then inserted it back in, before repeating the process with the other knives.

"Owe. Owe. Owe. Owe." Draco deadpanned with each knife as they were reinserted.

Harry immediately recognized his costume was that mokeskin cloth Fred and George had been working on. So, Draco had been the main benefactor of Weasley Wizard Wheezes? How interesting.

The Tonkses rejoined them and escorted them to the living room, where they found it decked with all manner of Halloween themed foods, drinks and decorations.

As with the rest of the day, their evening flew by. Harry didn't drink much, but he still could barely remember that evening save for the laughter, the fact that stories were told, and Draco was the king of charades. But only the acting bit. He couldn't do the guessing part too well though.

They didn't even have a proper dinner, per se. Just slowly snacking throughout the night and filling on said snacks.

Sadly, the night had to come to an end, and everybody had to go home. The Malfoys left first, followed by Remus and Tonks, who did not leave together despite Harry's internal wishes.

He was getting up and readying to leave when Theodore stopped him.

"Please, stay here the night. We have a spare bed and want to share our weekend with you." He invited. "Bellatrix already agreed to do the same."

Harry looked at his girlfriend. He smiled at her.

"That sounds perfect, sir. Thank you. Let me help clean the place up, but then I need to crash." Harry accepted.

Even with magic it took him twenty minutes to store all of the leftovers, clean the dishes and put the decorations away. By that time, he had heard the showers start and end, and Theodore and Andromeda had both switch into pajamas and come down to wish him goodnight.

He was a yawning mess when he stepped out of the shower and proceeded to Tonks' old room. Finding the bed without linen, he then went to the closet down the hall to retrieve some. His actions were interrupted by a light cough.

"Hadrian?" Bellatrix said from her bedroom door.

He turned to see her standing in the doorway, giving him the most bemused look a woman had ever given him. She was dressed in a strategically sheer nightgown that was cut significantly shorter than was considered appropriate for pureblood women for simple sleep.

"What are you doing?" She asked, her bemused smile creeping into her voice.

That was a good question. Here they were, sober, having dated for months, staying the night in the same house, and he was sneaking off to sleep in a different room? Right, yeah, he needed to get his head checked.

Harry shrugged and walked into her room, slinging her over his shoulder as he entered. The surprised "Ooh" she made was delightful. The giggling as he layed her down on the bed even moreso.

"My goodness, Mr Morrigan. You certainly know how to keep a lady waiting." She said.

---

Voldemort arrived, side-alonged by his companion.

There they stood in London, atop big Ben. Him and Alastor Marchbnaks, now fully recovered from their productive sparring match and subsequent heart to heart.

"A few moments until midnight." Alastor said.

Voldemort withdrew the diary and the Timekeeper. A device Alastor had clued him in, as well as his oaths would allow him, to the existence of and means of stealing. The breathing room of the truce this last week had allowed him so much extra room to tackle projects. Hunting down Nahashtan, which turned out to be a hitherto unknown species of Coatls, and finding the thing dead but entombed had been a disappointment at first, until he got a team to harvest the body parts for potion experimentation. Results were promising.

But his personally breaking into the department of mysteries for this prize? Now that had been productive.

"Such simple, and yet overlooked magic." He lamented, glancing down at the giant clock face.

"Only the theory behind it, not its application." Said Alastor.

Fair enough. But symbolic sorcery, magic of faith and belief and superstition as fuel and blueprints for esoteric magics, was just so readily available and obvious. And here he was, standing atop a symbol. The center of the world. The reference for all timekeeping. All clocks on the planet were set in reference to this one. Located at the point by which geography was annotated.

There was such power in that. There was such beauty in that, and yet it was so often overlooked.

The bell tolled, and he raised the timekeeper high into the air.

---

For all two of you who are still here from the original version of this story, with Harry and Alastor's bromance, this is what I was building up to in that version of the story. But I could tell readers didn't give one iota of a fuck about exploring the magic of faith, the hints at Unspeakables pulling shenanigans in the background, and Alastor Marchbanks in particular. So this betrayal, and the coming conflict, lacks the buildup it needs to reall hit home. But its still the original outline of the story I'm working with here.