Lucius woke up spitting tacks, what was taking his blasted wife so damn long to get him released, and why hasn't anyone come to question him yet?
Lucius failed to realize exactly how much trouble he was in and threatening the guards only made things worse for him.
Amelia on the other hand, had never had a better day as head of the DMLE. Cissy was a brilliant source of information, and not just on Lucius, but on all his other seedy friends who always seemed to just slip thru the cracks.
Amelia could legally hold Lucius for up to 72 hours before having to bring him into questioning. She was going to give herself this time to figure out all she could on this Riddle character. Following this train of thought she finished reading the report she had received back from Croaker, the only unspeakable she trusted to keep this information to himself. Damn, it looked like she will have to involve Dumbledore, just like Harry suggested; not that she didn't trust Albus per say, it was just that any form of communication with him gave her a splitting headache, the man did like to ramble after all, and he had this infuriating habit of sticking his nose into things it didn't belong. Rubbing the tension she now felt in her neck, Amelia threw a bit of floo powder into the grate and called out to Albus.
Albus Dumbledore was currently sitting in his office going over some paperwork that never seemed to end, having got word that Harry was safely ensconced in the Granger residence, Albus supposed that the kid deserved a break. His life at the Dursley's wasn't the easiest, and besides no one knew where the Granger's lived anyway.During the time of his pondering, the grate of his fireplace lit up green with Amelia's crisp voice coming through the flames, "Albus are you there? I have a development over here that I was informed you would know about." Always curious and more than a little conceited that his vast knowledge was requested by the head of the DMLE, Albus responded, "I'm here Madam Bones, if you would prefer I could come thru to your office, that is, of course, unless you would like to come to Hogwarts?" Albus did not yet know the seriousness of this case, and one knew that the Ministry, in all its glory, was never the safest place to discuss sensitive topics. Amelia's reply gave him a little insight as to how serious things were, "If you don't mind Albus, I would feel better if we conducted this meeting in your office at Hogwarts. Do you mind if I step thru?" Giving permission saw the fading red-haired, monocle wearing, stern witch step thru the fireplace grate and take a seat in one of the comfy looking arm chairs on the other side of his desk. "What may I be of assistance with Amelia?" Albus questioned as she pulled out her wand to enlarge a security box she removed from her pocket. "Lucius Malfoy was found attempting to slip a dark artifact into Ginevra Weasley's basket while shopping at Flourish and Blotts yesterday. Harry Potter was shopping with them and noticed his slight of hand and had promptly warned Miss Weasley not to move; it was by sheer luck that his friend Miss. Granger had sought the assistance of one of my Aurors on duty, as your new professor seemed to have caused quite a riot in the alley with Mr. Potter." Giving Albus little time to interrupt, Amelia continued. "You should know that Mr. Potter was effected by this object, stating that his scar was burning. It was he who recommended that I get in contact with you, as the same feeling had happened during the incident you had here at the end of last term." Blushing ever so slightly, Dumbledore cleared his throat at the reference to Professor Quirrell's tenure last term, he had of course notified the head of the DMLE, but insisted upon keeping certain elements of the incident hushed up; as Hogwarts is sanctioned separately from the Ministry, meaning as long as he informed them of his findings, he was in the clear legally. This brought a whole different light to the meeting however, and Albus was curious as to what item she found that could relate to Voldemort, or, people who knew him best, Tom Marvolo Riddle, a name that the general wizarding public new very little about.
It was this name written on a book however that Amelia had pulled from the security box, with an aura of magic surrounding it that was pure evil; Albus, taken aback, let his composure slip just a little as a small gasp escaped from his throat.
Levitating the book, Dumbledore cast several diagnostic spells on Riddle's diary. "Interesting, very interesting, and you said that Lucius was in possession of this Amelia?" Albus asked while still casting spell after spell on the book. "Yes, and before you get any wild ideas Albus, I had Croaker already take a look at this, I also have an inside informant who relayed information onto me, when combined they leave me little doubt that this diary is in fact a horcrux." Dumbledore's eyes snapped up to meet hers as she said this, "Yes, I know what a horcrux is, I was also informed that this is not the only one made based on the tests that Croaker himself ran." Sighing Amelia could already see she would be in for an uphill battle to get information out of the grandfatherly old man, the twinkle in his eye was a tell-tale sign that he was going to help, however he wouldn't tell you the whole truth. Let the migraine begin…Amelia thought tiredly.
Back at the Granger residence Harry didn't think he has had a better night's sleep in years! Not only did he feel completely rested and restored, but he woke up in a mess of tangled limbs with the love of his life. I could definitely get used to this. Harry thought to himself, 'yes you can, as I plan to be here for the rest of our lives love' Hermione's voice answered him in his own head. Smiling Harry asked out loud, "What's the first thing on our agenda today love?"
Hermione sat up in bed and threw her hands up as she stretched to get all the kinks out, yawning she answered her husband's question, "First stop today is the Bank love, we once more will have to meet with your account manager. After that I do believe lunch will be in order before heading in to speak with Amelia Bones, oh I hope she has time to see us today? Maybe we should send her an owl this morning making sure." Pulling out a piece of parchment from her desk, Hermione quickly wrote a short note to the head of the DMLE, explaining that they had additional concerns and would like to speak with her at her earliest convenience. Once she was done addressing the envelope, Hermione tied the letter to Hedwig's leg and let her fly out thru her bedroom window.
"It's nice having her back, I never thought about it, but she is the first to come back from the dead." Harry said as he watched his familiar fly off in the distance. Suddenly he had arms wrapping him up from behind in a tight embrace as Hermione laid a small kiss to the side of his neck with a whisper, "And she won't be the last love."
Nodding, Harry padded off to the guest bath to get ready for the day as Hermione made her way to her en suite. Later, and with both of them dressed for the day, they headed downstairs and met Hermione's parents at the table, grabbing some toast and eggs, they quickly informed them of their plans as Jean was headed off to work, Mick would be accompanying them to the bank and then to the Ministry, or so they hoped.
Walking thru the archway behind the Leaky Cauldron, Harry and Hermione instinctively reached out to hold hands, the need to have physical contact was strong, and most likely would remain this way for quite a while. They walked up to an open teller window at Gringotts and presented the goblin with the letter they received, they were quickly ushered off the floor of the bank and down the now familiar corridor bringing them into Bogrod's office. 'Do you think we should recommend the thief's mist thing to them? They were super pleased with my suggestions last time.' Hermione said silently to Harry. Thinking for a bit he replied, 'How would we explain how we knew about the thief's downfall to begin with? Maybe at some point in the future, but definitely not today.' Hermione agreed with Harry's reasonings, they didn't know how the goblins would take the news about them traveling back in time, how could they even explain it to the people who they planned?
"Welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, thank-you for meeting with me on such short notice, let me introduce myself, my name is Bogrod, I am the Potters account manager here at Gringotts, and I have been taking care of your accounts in both the magical and muggle worlds since the day your parents passed away… well before then actually, but that was solely due to James not able to be physically present for most of the required meetings." Harry smiling was ready to amaze his account manager, "Pleasure to meet you Master Bogrod, may all your enemies meet their end by your blade" Harry remembered the teachings Sirius gave him, in the last timeline however Bogrod said the greetings were unnecessary as they had gotten to know one another quite well; Harry hoped to get back on that level with the goblin, but knew it would take time.
Harry's assumption was correct, Bogrod was not only shocked, he was surprised that a welp as young as this one would not only know, but understand the proper etiquette in greeting a goblin, mainly because half the wizarding population seemed to have forgotten it. "Well met Mr. Potter, and may I congratulate you on astonishing a goblin." This was said with as a scary smile was draped on Bogrod's lips, "Now, lets get down to business shall we?" pausing just long enough to let the couple and their father sit, "I have asked you both here today as we have gotten informed about your soul bond." Bogrod waited to see if his proclamation on them being bonded would jolt them as much as Harry's greeting did to him, in turn it was him who was shocked that the couple just simply nodded. "I am guessing from both of your reactions and the lack of one from Mr. Granger that you both have already either deduced this yourselves or knew about it before hand, either way it effects a few things about your banking here at Gringotts."
Harry and Hermione were having an internal conversation while they somehow still managed to pay attention to Bogrod explaining to Harry, all the paperwork he would once again have to sign. 'Hermione,' Harry all but whined, 'I just signed all these forms yesterday!' Resisting the urge to roll her eyes Hermione responded, 'Yes love, but yesterday is so far in the future, and we hope to have changed a great many things before then, besides, think of your reward as getting to see your parents by the end of this!' Hermione always knew the right things to say, Harry was in fact, was now super motivated to sign all the paperwork now that she so successfully pointed out that his parents await him at the end of the tunnel.
Richard Granger had already accepted that Harry Potter was now his son, what he didn't know, was how to accept that his new son was a bloody billionaire! I wish Jean was here with me, she always was the more grounded out of the two of us. Mick was pulled out of his thoughts by his daughter as she grabbed his arm, "Come on Dad, we are going to the vault now, according to the list of contents there are several items of interest we would like to investigate and then I think it's well past time for lunch."
Richard Granger was frozen to the spot at the doorway to his kid's vault, was there a word for people who were richer than billionaires? He wondered as he gazed up at Aladdin's cave of wonders come to life.
Back at Hogwarts, Amelia was just about at her wits end. I swear it is easier to talk with a Centaur then to get this old bastard to give you a small piece of information. So far all she has gotten out of him in the three hours that she was here was that T.M. Riddle stood for Tom Marvolo Riddle, a student of Hogwarts some fifty years ago, who eventually used an anagram of his name to become who they all knew as Lord Voldemort. She could tell that the Headmaster of Hogwarts was holding many aces up his sleeve but refused to share anything of meaning. Amelia was just about ready to give up when an owl flew in through the open window at the top of the study and landed on the desk in front of her.
Reading Hermione's letter left Amelia curious, she doesn't sound like she's twelve years old? Folding the letter and placing it in the pocket of her cloak Amelia let Dumbledore know she would be in contact with him if anything further pops up, she packed up the horcrux, against Dumbledore's persistence that it remain with him, "Do I have to remind you Headmaster, that you not only live, but run a school full of children for ten months out of the year. This is no place for a horcrux, not to mention by keeping it here who's to say Lucius's plan doesn't become a reality. No, no, I think not, the horcrux will be coming back with me and placed in a secure unknown location that only myself and a select few I trust will have the knowledge of." With that Amelia stood up and bid the headmaster a good day and used the floo to head directly back to her office, she had a letter to write.
Harry had just gotten done introducing his father in law to his parent's portrait when a young Graplock handed Hermione a letter that was delivered by owl to the floor of the bank. Richard and James were now deep in a conversation about football when Harry apologized to his mum and walked over to the corner where she was standing. "Amelia says she's free to meet with us whenever we are finished with our errands," folding the letter Hermione let her gaze fall onto the tall bookshelf full of rare and first edition books. "We can come back here whenever we wish my love," Harry said out loud while internally he made the suggestion that they grab the same books that he did in the previous timeline.
Getting their fathers to end the topic of football was a bigger challenge than fighting a fully-grown mountain troll, do you think it would be going too far to knock your father out for a brief moment Mione? Harry asked playfully. The only reply he got was a smack to the back of the head, which coincidentally, caused the conversation the men were having to stop as James had burst out laughing, meanwhile Lily simply stated, "That's my girl."
Letting Harry's parents know that they had to go, but fully intended to take their portrait to Hogwarts with them, they had the Goblins temporarily move them from the vault to the guest bedroom at the Granger residence, they would love to place them in the living room, but not only would the couple draw questions from any guests that Jean would invite over, it would break the statue of secrecy if they were to so much as blink in the presence of a muggle. Bidding his parent's goodbye Harry grabbed Hermione's hand as they left the bank, heading straight for the head of the DMLE's office, as she stated in her letter that she would have lunch delivered upon their arrival.
The orb on Amelia's desk once more rang out with Jo's chipper voice, "Madam Bones, Mr. Potter and guests are here to see you." Thanking her secretary, she had her send them in after getting their orders for lunch to have it delivered to her office. Opening the door Harry led Hermione in and greeted Amelia very politely, "Good afternoon Madam Bones, thank you for seeing us on such short notice." Harry shook her hand as he continued to introduce the people with him, "This lovely lady here is Hermione Potter, my wonderful wife, and this is her father Doctor Richard Granger"
Amelia went to school with the Marauders, in fact she knew James Potter quite well as both coming from prominent pure-blood families, they grew up together. This would be the exact kind of stunt James would pull to try and get a laugh, she thought, well he's going to have to try harder than that! "Very funny Mr. Potter, I see that you inherited your fathers love of mischief." Laughing lightly Harry let her know her mistake, "You are correct Madame Bones, I do find myself in quite a bit of mischief, I am the son of a Marauder after all, however I could never joke about being married to Hermione, you see we have recently discovered that we are a soul bond couple, in fact we received a letter from the ministry yesterday congratulating us on our marriage." Harry said as he handed her the letter they had gotten. Watching as Amelia read the letter they were a little taken aback by the tears in her eyes as she looked at them, "Jamie's boy soul bound to the brightest witch of her age, what is it with Potter men finding their perfect mate right away?"
This was something they hadn't prepared for, James was very adamant about them getting to Amelia Bones and telling her their story, his father had trusted 'Ami' as he called her to do what was right, but never in a million years did any of them guess that Amelia, the hardened leader of the law enforcement, would break down in tears on them.
"Harry, if I may call you that, I'm sorry for my tears, but I grew up with your father, we were quite close as children, and even while in Hogwarts. I was distraught when he was murdered, almost as much as when Voldemort killed my two brothers." Amelia paused to wipe away her tears and blow her nose, "Jamie had asked me if he could list me as one of the people to raise you should anything happen to them, I want you to know I fought tooth and nail to try and gain custody of you, but I was low man on the totem pole back then, and couldn't beat the word of the great Albus Dumbledore." Harry just nodded, as he already knew everything there was to know about his parents will, they had gone over it for what felt like several days.
"I'm just so happy to see that you have found someone who will love you unconditionally like Jamie had in Lily" Amelia finished just as the food had arrived.
"Madam Bones," Harry started but was cut off, "Call me Amelia, Harry, at least while we are in private" she stated as she took a small bite of her sandwich. "Alright, Amelia." Harry started once more. "I'm hoping that with all that has come up here today that you will give me a chance to tell you a tale, one that I promise you with all my heart, is one hundred percent true." Getting a funny feeling in her gut Amelia nodded as to let Harry know to continue, "Excellent. I'm going to start by saying after my tale is over with I have a sure fire way to prove everything I'm telling you is true, all I ask is that you let me finish before you question my tale. Okay?" Crossing his fingers Harry waited for her reply.
Agreeing to his terms Amelia listened, shell shocked at the tale he was spinning, time travel, a second wizarding war, talk about hunting horcruxes… if Amelia hadn't already decided to believe him due to the knowledge of horcruxes, the secret nick name from her childhood that only Jamie would know about coming out of his sons mouth definitely did. "My dad told me to tell you to take care of me, and that he trusted very few people. He assured me that his 'Milly Mayhem' would have no problem fighting the bad guys off." Harry said with a fond smile glued to his face. No one in the world would ever know that name, except for Jamie, as he was the only one she allowed to use it.
With Amelia fully on board the Potters continued to tell her their plans for this timeline and what they had in store for the next few days. Amelia couldn't believe what she was hearing, Sirius Black was innocent?! Not only was he innocent but he had never received a proper trial and Pettigrew was still alive, living as a rat currently stowed away at the Burrow. My word, they did have a lot to accomplish didn't they.
Thinking on her feet, Amelia let loose the plan that was taking form in her head. "Harry, I have a close friend of mine, who I recently got reacquainted with. I hope by now, with your fathers backing, that you can and will trust my judgement here. I'm not saying that we tell her the whole story, but I believe that she would be a great asset to some of the ambitious plans you have already on the books." Amelia paused to take a breath then continued, "I would even be willing to bet she would take an oath if it meant she could accomplish some of her own aims at the same time. For me it would be like killing two birds with one curse." Hermione laughed a little at the witches' version of an old muggle saying and asked. "And just who is this witch you have in mind Amelia?"
Amelia was surprised the walls didn't shake with the anger coming out of the twelve year old, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! WHY WOULD WE PURPOSELY GIVE INFORMATION TO THE ENEMY?" Hermione yelled when she found out it was Narcissa Malfoy nee Black who Amelia wanted to bring semi into the know.
"Calm down love, remember, she did lie to Voldemort to save my life in the last timeline." Harry said as he tried to soothe his wife's ire by rubbing small circles on the back of her hand with his thumb. "One act of good, doesn't erase all the acts of bad, I know it wasn't her who carved that foul word into my arm, but she was her sister! And it happened in her house!" Hermione was well past being rational at this point. I wonder if I could slip a memory charm past the head of the DMLE? She thought to herself, or what she thought was herself.
"Hermione!" Harry scolded his wife for the thought she just had, "Let's not jump to conclusions here, you didn't even let Amelia finish her reasonings behind her decision. I know you are agitated dear, but we can't place judgement on things we know nothing about yet. Remember we have already set off a change in the original timeline, this could have stemmed from it." Harry, not used to being the rational one in the relationship, prayed that he didn't piss her off any further than she was. Please God, don't let me lose her over this. Harry's internal thoughts once again broadcasted over to Hermione, it was his sudden plea that caused her to stop and take a breath. You will never lose me Harry, I'm sorry I got upset. I guess my emotions are still quite raw when it comes to the Malfoys, but you are right, we should hear Amelia's side of the story, she has never done wrong by us in the other timeline, and I don't wish to see her die again. Hermione said silently. Harry nodding at what she said turned to speak to Amelia however her face was priceless, he knew he constantly forgets that Hermione can hear his thoughts, but was even more forgetful that other people wouldn't understand when they communicated silently just by staring, that it could be disorienting.
"Ummm, sorry about that Amelia, did we forget to mention that we can communicate telepathically?"
"No, you seemed to have left that little tid bit out, although not too surprising, even with little being known when it comes to soul bonds, there are still a few smaller bits that people theorize about, telepathy is one of them" Blushing quite a deep shade of red Hermione too apologized, "I'm sorry too Amelia, I guess I let my emotions get the better of me, I would love to blame it on my age, however even thought I appear to be twelve, in real life I'm already an adult and I should act like one."
Accepting her apology Amelia immediately informed them of why she believed Narcissa Malfoy might be their best bet in accomplishing several of their goals.
In the end Amelia asked her personal elf to deliver a message to Cissy, asking her to come to her office as soon as she was able to. Star, Amelia's personal elf, was only gone for a few moments when she popped back into the office with Narcissa in tow.
Narcissa Malfoy was currently looking over a few place settings, attempting to choose one for the Orphanage Charity Ball, an event she had been planning every year for the past decade. It was her way to give back to all the families affected by the war, it was because of that war that so many children were left without a family to call their own. Since then Narcissa made it her goal in life to make sure that none of the children in the orphanage would be under fed, or not given a toy to play with. She felt it was ironic cruel justice that Lucius dark money went toward something as pure as the orphanage.
Narcissa was startled out of her focus when Star, Ami's elf, popped in asking if she were available that Madam Bones would like to speak with her. Choosing the very pretty gold-leaf pattern, and letting Draco know that she was off to a meeting, Narcissa grabbed Star's tiny had as they disapperated off to the ministry of magic.
The moment Narcissa landed in Amelia's office she could feel the tension in the air, sitting before her was none other than the Boy Who Lived and the Smartest Witch of her age. Draco had informed her on Miss. Grangers rather high grades, as she was the only one higher on the list for their age group than himself, this causing quite a commotion at home when Lucius found out; after all how could his precious pure-blooded son get beaten out by a snotty mudblood.
Wishing she was suddenly someplace else, Narcissa turned to Amelia, "What can I do for you today Madam Bones?" thinking that it would be best to play the part in mixed company. "You can drop the act Cissy; I have already told them all about your change in attitude and the reasons behind it." Shocked that Amelia would give out that information without her permission, Cissy wondered what exactly was going on here.
"Cissy, these two have just recently found out a few things that can be of some help to your cause, not only are these details verifiable, but I have documented proof an a few of them straight from the ministry itself." Amelia started off, "Before we go any further though the two have asked, and I think it would be in your best decision to agree, to have you perform an unbreakable vow to not willingly give out what they wish to remain secret. Trust me Cissy, it will be worth it for you, as they have a fool proof way to remove you from Lucius's talons." Thinking about her options, Narcissa decided that what they asked was not unreasonable, given who she was married to and everything. Feeling that she was going to like what information these two children bring forth Narcissa quickly agreed to the unbreakable vow, with the amendment that being under the effects of veritaserum would be clearly stated as 'not willing', Narcissa took the oath.
Happy that she almost instantly agreed to the vow went along way into calming Hermione's nerves. Amelia had described the information that Narcissa had given her, they were shocked to find out that Narcissa knew about the horcruxes, and about Regulus. But nothing would compare to how shocked they were when Amelia let them know about everything Cissy had said about Lucius, it looked like they had a better support team then they could ever plan for this go around.
"Mrs. Malfoy," Hermione started, "Would you believe us if we told you Sirius Black was innocent, and that he was thrown into prison without a trial?" Hermione decided to start with something that would ultimately help Narcissa the most. "Please dears, call me Narcissa or Cissy, I'm starting to loath the Malfoy name, but to answer your question of would I believe you, the answer would be yes, there was plenty of shady happenings in the ministry at that time, lord knows my husband deserved to have been placed in a cell more than my cousin did." And it was true, Narcissa couldn't see Sirius ever turning on James Potter, they were practically brothers after all, more so then Sirius and Regulus were anyway.
"Excellent, because we are attempting to get him freed from Azkaban before we head out on September the first, and we think that you can help us with it." Hermione said with the grit of determination in her voice.
And so Harry, Hermione, and Amelia laid forth their plans to Narcissa, who in all her wisdom had a few suggestions to make the plan better, gave Harry and Hermione the hope that they would pull this all off before they board the express after all!
Richard Granger didn't have much in ways of contributing to the conversation, instead he chose to sit quietly in the background, beaming like every parent does when they are super proud of their children, he didn't even think Narcissa noticed him. It was well after five in the afternoon when Mick made his presence known, making Narcissa jump a little bit, bringing a smile to his face. Nope, just like I thought she either didn't see me or she saw me and then forgot I was here. Laughing internally at his stealthy prowess, he informed the kids that their mother will be home shortly and that they should be getting home to meet her for supper.
Everyone agreed to meet once more tomorrow to set their plans in motion, thinking that the Wizengamot won't know what hit them.