7 Chapter seven- Apologies, emotions and changing tides

Magnus POV- After classes

It was with a groan that I left my second class of the day rubbing the bridge of my nose as I tried to suppress a growing headache that had been forming for the past two and a half hours. 'They can't actually be serious can they, this is what the best magical school in all of Britain has to offer, I don't know whether to be disappointed or embarrassed for them so far' I internally groaned, 'I can't believe I'm actually in agreement with some of the things my albino cousin says in the future, this place has gone to the dogs'

"I thought that was never going to end," Daphne said with a pained expression to my left as we left the classroom, "I thought my father was joking when he told me about Professor Binns."

"I thought it was going to actually be beneficial learning history from a ghost," Tracey sighed from my right side, "But he just droned on and on, he didn't even stop to take questions."

I sighed and nodded my head in agreement, "Well at least it can only get better from here. Honestly, I don't think I could handle another two classes like our last two."

Daphne snorted, "Anything would be better than what we just had to listen to, I don't know what was worse, Binn's droning or Quirrell's impossible to understand stuttering"

"I'm not even sure my notes are even legible from Quirrell's class," Tracey said with annoyance, "I couldn't understand him half the time to take notes."

"Oh please don't remind me," I said as I rolled my eyes, "how that man can possibly teach defence against the dark arts, I don't know, he practically jumped out of his robes when that Hufflepuff girl dropped her book"

Daphne smirked, "Well that was kind of funny, but you're right. I don't understand how they can expect someone like that to teach that kind of subject, or any kind, to be frank, it looks like we'll have to do a lot of self-study to get good grades if these two classes are anything to go by on what to expect from the others."

I nodded again, I had thought that I already knew what to expect from Quirrell, but the man's stutter was much worse than I thought and his whole acting really was over the top and it just added more proof to my reasoning that there is no way that Dumbledore wasn't aware of the man's possession, no one is that pathetic

"I say we start up a small study group in our free time slots," I offered, "if things are really going to be as bad as this we need all the extra studying we can get if we even want any hope of passing the end of year exams."

"Agreed, but I say we give it a week," Daphne stated, "it will let us judge which classes we'll need to study for in our free time, right now we have two but there could be more."

Tracey groaned, "Let's hope not too many more, otherwise we're not going to have any free time to relax, a girl can only take so much."

I sighed, "Well if what I've heard about Professor Snape is true, then we can add potions to the list as well," I offered, "according to my cousin, who graduated last year, the potions master despises all other houses apart from his own, has a hatred for Gryffindors, and on top of being a bigoted teacher he has next to impossible standards, apparently he didn't accept anyone below an outstanding in their potion OWLs for his NEWT classes"

Tracey groaned again, "Crap, potions is my worst subject, I'm screwed"

Daphne shook her head, "Looks like our free time is going to really be pressed then if we'll have to study those three subject on the side if we want to make the grade. Let's hope none of our other lessons turn out the same. Maybe we can get a second year to make a study plan for what exactly we need to be studying for our exams, it would save us some time"

I nodded, "That's a good idea, I have another one that might work as well but I'm not sure," I explained, "I'll need to look some things up back in my room, I'll let you know later if my idea could work"

"Oh?" Daphne smirked, "was that what you were writing out while Binns was droning on, I saw you do up at least three sheets of parchment, want to fill us in?" she asked with clear curiosity in her tone.

I shook my head, "No that was something different, just clearing my head of ideas for different things, it helps me to put things down on paper to see things, I figured I might as well do something as we're not going to be learning anything listening to his droning."

Tracey giggled, "True, so what were you clearing your head of then, anything fun?" she asked with a tone equally as curious as to the blond on my left.

I smirked and shook my head, "No, just random thoughts for the future, nothing you need be concerned about, it's just a habit of mine" I said casually.

"I see, anything to do with Lord Malfoy's comments in the prophet this morning, those were some heavy accusations he put against you, are you going to do anything in response?" Daphne asked.

I nodded, "I will be later, I need to contact my law wizard to do so. What would you suggest my response be?" I asked as I glanced back to Daphne only to see the shocked look on her face.

"You're asking my opinion?" Daphne asked me, clearly shocked by my question before she cooled her expression, "Why?"

I shrugged as we continued to walk, "Well for one I haven't been in the wizarding world that long so I'm not entirely sure on what the appropriate response would be to something like that. I'd usually have my grandparents portraits to ask but since I can't at the moment I was hoping you'd have a suggestion. I thought that my earlier statement would be enough of a rebuttal but I'm not sure, I seem to recall my grandmother stating something about answering insults but I'm not overly sure about the best way to go about it."

Daphne seemed to nod to my statement, "Yes I forgot that you weren't raised in our world for a moment, that's another set of lessons we'll have to cover" she said before humming to herself, as I mentally groaned, "Well generally speaking insults that are just words are generally responded to in the same manner, your statement and the article proving your claim to the heirship disproves his insinuations and makes lord Malfoy look the fool. So there isn't really anything to answer back to this time, unless of course the house of Malfoy doesn't recognise their faux pas and apologise publicly, generally three days is the waiting time for something like that to avoid embarrassment, but if they don't most would demand right of satisfaction to get one, then one would have to be given or an honour duel would be the result, and then the loser would have to back down, if house Malfoy lost that then not only would they have the embarrassment of the lost but would still have to openly apologize and recognise their faux pas"

I listened intently and started to nod, "I see, I seem to recall something about honour duels," I said as I remember them from the various fictions I had read about them, along with some of the things I had read in the Black family library, "am I right in assuming that I could call for another to fight in my sted given that I don't have any experience duelling?"

Daphne nodded again, "Yes, it's called choosing a champion, usually its when either party can not fight for themselves. Insults to a house are usually fought between the current lords, or a member of the house is chosen to fight if the lord cannot. Champions can also be outside of the house or an allied house but it's very rare as most don't like to get involved with houses other than their own"

"So I would have to duel lord Malfoy then or my champion would if it went to an honour duel?" I asked as I frowned a little, duelling a death eater this early wasn't what I had in mind I didn't have enough duelling practice under my belt yet to try anything like that.

Daphne shook her head, "No honour duels can be fought between heirs as well, so you could face Draco if you wanted to, but he could pass the challenge to his father and then it would be up to you if you wanted to continue or choose a champion instead, though if Lord Malfoy accepted the challenge it would look very poorly on him for doing so considering your age, but I wouldn't put it past him, my father has had dealings with him in the past and he's the kind to do things like that regardless of the image it presents."

I nodded, "I see, thanks for the info, I'll have to do a bit more research before I go any further into the matter, I'll contact my law wizard to ask his advice on the matter" I thanked her as we continued to walk on.

We weren't far now from the grand hall where most of us were heading, we had just over two hours of a free period before our next class which was charms with the Gryffindors, I was actually looking forward to it, as it would give me an opportunity to observe the golden trio in class. I figured that seeing as I was already on the old man's radar now there was no point in trying to fly under it. I may as well see what I can do to shake things up a little, as long as I didn't mess with anything major I figured things would remain on track.

Scene break- Author POV- the great hall

After another couple of minutes of walking the trio of Ravenclaws had finally navigated the staircase and made their way down and into the great hall followed by a couple of their year-mates.

Upon entering the great hall Magnus gave the tables a quick once over to see who was there, and he smiled slightly as he spotted Harry Potter sitting at the Gryffindor table.

'Hmmm, well no time like the present,' Magnus thought to himself before glancing over to Daphne and Tracey, "Hey, I'm just going to go and have a quick word with someone at the Gryffindor table, I'll catch up with you both after."

Daphne raised an eyebrow at the statement, "Oh, who are you…" she began to ask as she glanced up the Gryffindor table before stopping as she spotted Harry as well, "Potter?" she said softly, "What are you planning?"

Magnus shrugged, "Don't know yet, figured an apology for the part my uncle played in his parent's deaths is a good place to start, if he still wants anything to do with me after that then I'll see."

Daphne nodded, "I suppose that would be ideal if you want to start changing people's opinion of House Black. Alright, we'll be watching from the Ravenclaw table, hope things go well" she said before she and Tracey broke off from their group and moved towards the table with the other claws.

After they were gone Magnus took a deep breath and sighed as he tried to relax his breathing before he started forward heading towards Harry. Internally he knew he actually didn't have to apologize for Sirius's actions given that the man was actually innocent, but he also knew that to the rest of the magical world at that time the man was guilty, the fact that he didn't even have a trial didn't even seem to matter. But right now public opinion was all that really mattered and in the eyes of the public Sirius Black a member of his house, regardless of his banishment, had betrayed house Potter and a matter such as that needed to be addressed and his stance on the matter made clear if he was ever going to improve house Black's standings in the eyes of the rest of the magical community.

Coming up just shy of Harry, Magnus cleared his throat as he spoke, "Harry Potter," he said as Harry turned to him as he spoke his name and his eyes seemed to widen when he saw him in recognition, "I was hoping that we…" Magnus began to say before he was interrupted by a certain red-headed boy who was sitting on the other side of Harry.

"What do you want traitor!" Weasley snapped as he rose up from his seat.

Magnus eyes instantly went to Weasley with a narrowed glare, "I do not believe I was addressing you, Weasley," he said with a small amount of annoyance in his tone before looking back to Harry, "as I was saying before I was interrupted, I was hoping that I might have a moment of your time to talk about some delicate matters."

Before Harry even got a chance to speak, Weasley once again butted in, "Why would he want to talk to you Black? Everyone knows your family's dark, and are nothing but traitors! What trying to finish what your uncle started!?"

The entire hall had fallen dead silent as the confrontation had started with Weasley's opening statement, while his second one drew gasps and whispered mutterings around those in the room.

Harry for his part was looking at Magnus with a conflicted expression on his face. He wasn't sure what to make of things entirely, last night Ron had told him about how his parents had been betrayed by their best friend at the time and that had lead to their deaths. He had been angry at the fact that someone they saw as their friend had betrayed them and this alone had made him wary about Magnus. The way Magnus had rebutted Malfoy at first made him think he wasn't all that bad, he hadn't been pompous like Draco, but at the same time, he didn't have much of an interaction with the other boy to really judge him.

Magnus, upon hearing the statement turned his attention back to Weasley with a heated glare. While Magnus had been expecting some form of confrontation with the redhead, but the blunt accusation was not what he was expecting, and while he could use his occlumency to control himself, the anger that boiled up inside him wanted him to lash out at the boy.

The combination of his knowledge of Sirius's innocents, alongside the new childlike desires for a family that he was feeling, made him want to rebut the boy and declare his uncle's innocents. And it was with great difficulty that Magnus used all his occlumency restraint to keep from doing so at that very moment so as not to cause a scene.

But that still didn't keep some of the anger he felt from showing on his face as he glared at the redhead as his brown eyes turned red in his anger before he spoke.

"Kindly keep your trap shut Weasley unless you want to face me in an honour duel for insults rendered to the House of Black," Magnus said in a growling statement that caused the entire hall to fall silent and for the redhead's eye to widen seeing the red-eyed glare he was getting, while Magnus may not have wanted to risk facing a death eater like Malfoy so early he was betting on Ronald's pig-headed arrogance to take the challenge himself if it came down to it, and he was certain he would be more than a match for the pathetic excuse for a wizard, though it looked as though his little eye change had been enough to scare the boy off from saying anything further.

Magnus took a moment to close his eyes and let out a breath as he tried to steady his emotions before once more opening his eyes as the red faded from them as his eyes returned to normal, "I am quite aware of the actions of my uncle, and what those actions lead to. I do not need for you to remind me of the shame that my uncle brought upon my house by his traitorous actions." Magnus said as he felt his guts knot, feeling like absolute shit for saying such things about Sirius. "But that is exactly what I have come here to apologize for," he added getting another round of whispers from the tables around them before he turned his attention from the shocked Weasley to the one he wanted to talk to.

"Harry Potter," Magnus stated as he looked at the boy, "I, on behalf of the House of Black, and myself, offer you our apologies for the actions of my former uncle. Neither I or the remaining members of the House of Black condone his actions. If he hadn't already been banished from the family because of his previous decisions then I would have already seen it done. Though I have never personally met the man, his actions in betraying your parents and his obligations and vows prove to me that he isn't worthy of my house and the values I hold." Magnus said with as much composure as he could muster through his gut was still knotting, "I can only ask that you do not hold the rest of House Black or myself responsible for the actions of one of us, we are responsible for our own actions not those of our misguided relatives."

Feeling as though he was about to be sick if he continued any more, and not waiting for an answer, Magnus turned and exited the hall with a brisk pace, his gut tightening with every step.

Seconds after he'd left the hall, the whispers started up once more growing in volume as they talked about what they had all just witnessed.

At the Ravenclaw table, both Tracey and Daphne shared a look at each other and rose from the table at the same time and quickly started after Magnus both wanting to make sure he was okay.

Meanwhile, at the Gryffindor table, Harry sat even more conflicted than before. He hadn't been expecting that. He hadn't been expecting that at all. For Magnus to apologize for his uncle's role in his parent's death. He wanted to be angry at him, for even trying to apologize for it, an apology wasn't going to bring his parents back.

But he felt himself cringe when he thought about blaming Magnus for what his uncle did, he knew that he would never want to be blamed for anything that his aunt, uncle or cousin did. And he suddenly felt a pan of anger towards the redhead beside him for his harsh words and insults towards Magnus when the boy had come to apologize to him.

Ronald for his part sat down after Magnus had left sat down in a huff, "Bloody traitor, who does he think he is," the redhead grumbled before looking to Harry and put his hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry mate, I've got your back, next time that Black shows up, we'll show him."

Harry clenched his fists at the statement as he felt his anger rise as he fought back from yelling, he didn't want to risk his new friendship with Ron but at the same time he felt that his friend was well out of line by what he has said to Magnus, "Why did you do that? He was just coming over to apologise?" Harry asked him looking at his so-called friend.

Ronald looked shocked at the sudden question, "Well why wouldn't I? He's a Black, they're all dark, just because he's not in Slytherin doesn't mean he can be trusted, he's just trying to pull something on you, trying to get close to you just like his uncle did to your folks"

"But you heard him, he's never even met his uncle, so how could he be anything like a man he's never met, you shouldn't judge people just because of their family," Harry said as he stood up having come to a decision then and there.

Ronald looked taken back by that statement as Harry stood up, "Hey where are you going?" he asked as he went to get up as well.

"To talk to Magnus, don't follow me. If you can't see how wrong you are I don't want you as my friend," Harry said as he walked away leaving a stunned and gaping Ronald at the table.

Scene break- Magnus POV

I stumbled down one of the corridors in the castle as I took deep breaths, the twisting in my stomach was starting to settle down, but it didn't stop me being concerned with just what was happening to me. I had been concerned ever since the meeting with Dumbledore, about these sudden bursts of feelings I didn't know what was going on with me with these feeling suddenly coming to a head at the most inopportune times.

I had experienced some small forms of them over the past month, but they had been small, when I was with Tonks or Aunt Andy, a warmness in my chest, happiness that made me smile and laugh whenever something was funny, like a child would do in a similar situation.

But now it was starting to affect me at the worst times, I did not want Dumbledore to know of my metamorph skills this early on, and because of my emotional slip and subsequent loss of control he does. And now, back in the hall I was literally a seconds away from losing control when Weasley started on me, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to learn those more harmful spells this early on, 'part of me wanted to see the weasels face if I was to cast the internal freezing curse on him, to watch as he froze from the inside out.'

I shivered at the thought, I had only read about that in one of the many books in the Black library, I had yet to try it out, but I had been very tempted to make Weasley my test subject to see its effects first hand.

I groaned as I came to a stop down a corridor and slumped against the wall rubbing my forehead as I felt the anger at his words boil up again, 'How dare that ginger-fuckwit think to call my uncle a traitor when he's got the real traitor in his fucking dorm room as his pet fucking rat.'

I clenched my fists in anger, it would be so easy to just go to the Gryffindor common room and march up there and take that rat bastard Pettigrew and turn him over the DMLE. Of course, that would be after I had the pleasure of testing some of my harmful spells on him for some retribution of my own first. I knew the password for the common room from the movies, after all, the little bastard wouldn't even know what hit him.

'No…' taking several deep breaths I brought up my occlumency barriers and pulled my emotions back as I did my best to calm down. I knew why I couldn't do that, because people would ask questions, like how I knew where Pettigrew was, and on top of that I didn't know how it would affect things if I threw Pettigrew into the spotlight right now, with how Minister Fudge reacted when it happened in the original storyline he could very well try to cover it up as he did then and have Pettigrew swept under the rug and deny things given how bad things would be for him if it was shown that a pureblood wizard was thrown into Azkaban without a trial. Which when you think about it, was the whole reason he was so heavy-handed by sending dementors to Hogwarts and put the kiss on sight order on Sirius when he broke out, it was all an attempt to cover things up.

No, I needed to be patient, wait until Ted was able to tell me without a shadow of a doubt that there are no trial transcripts on file proving there was never a trial, he had already spent a full month looking but because he was doing so carefully and on his own so as not to arouse suspicion it was taking time to do. I suspected I would have word on the matter within the next month or the month after that, and then I could possibly start readying things to bring to the DMLE and Wizengamot so I could use the weight of house Black to demand an immediate trial and investigation. As soon as I was certain that I had all the information, proof, and no way for anyone to block me I was going to make my move, for now, I would just have to bite my tongue and not let my emotions give away any more of my secrets.

With my emotions once again in check I pushed myself off the wall and was about to start navigating myself back to the Ravenclaw common room to try I get some practice in when I heard the sound of footfalls coming from the direction I just came. I turned to see both Daphne and Tracey coming towards me.

"Magnus, are you okay?" Daphne asked as they reached me, some signs of concern on her face.

"You left the hall in a hurry, we were worried," Tracey added with similar signs of concern, a tad more so than Daphne.

I sighed, of course they had followed me, "I'm fine, I just needed to get out of there before I hexed Weasley, I had expected some confrontation but I guess I didn't expect that much, his words got to me more than they should have" I explained, "I just needed some time to get my mental barriers back in place so I wouldn't send him to the hospital wing"

Daphne gave a small snort, "well I hardly think anyone would have blamed you if you had, he was severely out of line, he had no business coming between you and Potter like that, you'd think his parents would have taught him better" she rolled her eyes.

Tracey snorted, "I wanted to hex him myself for you when I heard him. If it wasn't for my own mental barriers I would have," she grumbled.

I gave a smirk, "yeah well now he's gone and put me off my lunch, I was just about to head back to the dorms and do some reading, you two want to tag along?" I asked offering.

Daphne smirked, "sure why not, but the library is closer to here than the dorms, let's head there, I've been wanting to see if its everything my mother said it was."

I nodded and the three of us started down the corridor in search of the library, but we hadn't even gotten to the end of the corridor we were in before we heard the sound of more footfalls, I didn't think anything of it until a familiar voice called down the corridor after us, "Magnus!"

I turned with Daphne and Tracey and there was Harry coming down the corridor towards us, all four foot of him, he was rather short for his age now that I think about it, and I frowned when I remembered the reason why, the Dursleys treatment of him, and I added another thing to my list of todos, see if there was any way to get Harry out of that house and out from under Dumbledore's thumb.

"Potter," I said as I turned to face him, "something I can help you with?" I asked wanting to know why he came after me, I had a few guesses but wasn't sure.

"Your apology earlier, I accept it" Harry said catching his breath, he must have run all the way here, "what you said before about not wanting to be blamed for something your relative did, I know how that feels, I just wanted you to know that I don't, blame you for what he did, it's like you said you aren't your uncle, it would be stupid to blame you for what someone else did."

I smiled feeling the last of the knot fade away from my gut and sighed, "thank you, Potter,, you have no idea how much of a relief that is to hear you say that, after Weasley's comments earlier I feared that you might hold the same views" I said with relief, this was going better than I had hoped.

Harry seemed to frown, "I'm sorry about Ron, I don't know why he said those things, you're not your uncle after all." he said in apology.

I shook my head, "Don't apologize for him Potter, there's no point as Weasley clearly meant what he said so your apology would just be empty words, he has to apologize for it to mean something, not you" I said not wanting to think any more on what the hot head had said as I could already feel some of the anger inside me stirring when I thought about him and what he had said, only I was pulled from that feeling when I heard the clearing of voices behind me and smirked slightly, "Oh of course where are my manner" I said before gesturing behind me, "Potter these lovely ladies are my friends, Heiress Daphne Greengrass, heiress primary of the most noble and most ancient house of Greengrass, and Heiress Tracey Davis, heiress secondary to the noble and most ancient house of Davis" I introduced them only to get an owlish response from Harry as he blinked at the three of us, clearly not knowing what to make of what I had just said.

"Um… okay," Harry said clearly bewildered as he looked at us.

Daphne gave a snort at his look, "what's with that look Potter, you look as though you don't have a clue in the world" she stated with an amused tone.

"Um yeah, I was raised by my…. Relatives, in the muggle world, I don't have a clue about what all this House or Heiress stuff means sorry" Harry stated as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Both Tracey and Daphne just looked at him with looks of shock on their faces and I sighed, "I suspected as much," I openly stated getting looks from all three of them and so I decided to elaborate, "when you didn't immediately take Malfoy's hand when he was introducing himself to you, I had a suspicion that you weren't knowledgeable about the magical world and our customs so I stepped in just to be sure before you could end up making things hard on yourself" I stated.

Harry just looked at me confused, "what do you mean, he was just offering me his hand, I was going to politely tell him to get lost, not take it" he explained as he got wide-eyed looks from both Daphne and Tracey, he looked to them, "what?"

I sighed, "Potter, refusing a wizards hand when offered is just about the worst insult you can give them, especially when that hand is offered by a lord or Heir apparent of a magical house. By openly refusing it you basically stating that they are so far under you that it isn't even worth your time to shake his hand, it is a slap to the face of house Malfoy and every one of their allies to do so, so by refusing his hand you would have not just made one enemy but several families worth, not to mention the insult directed to mine and your grandmother's side of the family tree" I said, letting that little bit of information slip on purpose to get Harry's attention.

Harry was looking wide-eyed at me looking even more worried the whole time I was explaining how his one mistake could have made his life a lot more troublesome over something so small, but all that seemed to fall to second place when he heard my final statement, "we're… we're related?" he asked as shock covered his face.

I smirked and nodded, "Oh yes, your father's mother, Dorea Potter was Dorea Black before she married your grandfather, so that makes us second cousins" I smirked, "though sorry to say but it also means your related to Malfoy to the same extent as his mother was also a Black before she married into the Malfoy family"

I studied Harry's face as I finished my little explanation and I could see him practically go green at the thought of being related to Malfoy but I could also see some look of hope in his eyes when he looked at me that made me smile and I put my hand on his shoulder, "sorry but you know what they say, you can't choose your family" I smirked making him chuckle in response as he looked down and I could hear him mutter under his tone, "I have family" making me smile.

Though our little moment was short lived when Daphne broke us up when she cleared her throat, "um not to break up this little moment or anything but there are more important matters that need to take priority here, like how Potter has just admitted that he knows nothing about magical houses and all that that entails" she stated rather urgently as Tracey nodded.

I sighed and nodded as I took my hand off Harry's shoulder as he looked at us all with confusion evident on his face, "why would I need to know any of that stuff," he asked clearly confused as all hell.

I looked at him with pity as I mentally cursed Dumbledore for his meddling and placing Harry with the Dursleys and keeping him so ignorant, given all the time I've been spending learning all I know about what is required of an heir and future lord of a house like ours I can see why it would be beneficial to start learning at a much younger age, it's only coming easier to me because I have the mind of an adult inside the body of a child, it's going to be much harder on Harry to play catch up with all the stuff he will have to know, if he doesn't when he comes of age he's going to be thrown in the deep end with sharks and told to swim, it would be a political bloodbath.

"Potter…. Harry, if I may" I requested before clearing my throat, "your father James Potter, was from a pureblood house, the Most Noble and Most ancient house of Potter, a house of the same prestige and with roots just as far back as the House of Black and the House of Greengrass" I explained, "your father was, before he died, Lord Potter, and you as his only son, and the last Potter, are his heir, the heir apparent to the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter and the Potter fortune, and when you turn seventeen you will become Lord Potter, head of house Potter" I explained dropping it all at once, no sense in letting it go easy at this point.

Harry just stood there gaping at me and looked to Daphne and Tracey before looking back to me, "t-this is a joke right, I-I can't become a Lord, I'm Harry… just Harry" he said clearly in shock and denial.

I shook my head, "sorry Harry, but it's true, if it helps I'm in the same boat as you, a month ago I didn't know about the magical world or about my family, and I've spent the past month learning about them and my future responsibilities as Lord Black," I smirked.

Harry swallowed hard as he looked at me as I saw the same look of hope in eyes as I did before but then Daphne spoke up again.

"Like it or not Potter its your responsibility, House Potter is one of the oldest magical houses with a seat in the Wizengamot, like Magnus said it is just as old as both his house and mine, as such it has acquired a large amount of voting power over the years and if you refuse to accept your responsibility you are letting not only your ancestors down but doing a great disservice to the entire magical community at large" Daphne stated firmly and passionately making me look to her, I guess the thought of some such responsibilities being ignored struck a chord with her.

"B-But I wouldn't even know where to start, I just found out a month ago that I was a wizard, and now you're all saying that when I turn seventeen that I'm going to be an important lord" Harry clearly starting to worry more and more.

I put my hand on his shoulder again, "Harry, calm down, you don't have to take up your responsibilities for another six years, you have time to learn, same as me, I've got your back cousin" I smiled trying to reassure him.

I watched as Harry took several deep breaths nodding as he tried to calm himself down and I nodded in approval, he was honestly taking it better than I thought he would and I mentally patted myself on the back, this should throw a wrench into some things in the future.

I looked over to see Tracey looking on in approval as well, but Daphne had a worried look in her eye I could tell that she was thinking about something worrisome, I made a mental note to talk with her later, I was still learning everything about the magical world, chances are she's likely thought of something that I haven't yet.

Turning my attention back to Harry I patted his shoulder, "listen, me Daphne and Tracey will be holding regular study groups starting next week after we've gone through our first week of lessons, we're… not to impressed by the current standard of some of the classes and are going to study up on our own, plus the girls are going to help to pick up the lessons that I'll need for when I become Lord Black, you're more than welcome to join us seeing as you're in the same boat as me in that regard" I offered him.

I watched as he let out a breath that was clearly a sigh of relief as he nodded, "yeah, thanks, I think I will, it would be a huge help if I'm going to be a lord someday like you all are saying" he smiled.

I nodded in approval, "good, glad to have you"

Harry smiled at me before looking down seeming to think for a moment before looking back to me, "um listen, could you maybe... Tell me more about my family, you seem to know more about them than I do, and I'd like to know if I have any more cousins that are gonna come out of the woodwork" he asked rather embarrassed.

I chuckled, "sure thing Harry, come on let's go find somewhere to chat, we've got a couple hours before we have classes again" I said as I began to lead him down the corridor before looking back to Daphne and Tracey, "I'll catch up with you two later, see you both in Charms, raincheck on the library?"

Both of them nodded back to me as we walked on, but I still noticed a worried look in Daphne's eyes, yes I would definitely have to talk with her later on.

Hogwarts Headmasters office

Dumbledore sat behind his desk stroking his beard, now to most who would look at him would think that he was just pondering over some idle thoughts, but in truth, he was concerned with more pressing matters, the twinkle in his eye dimmed as he was deep in thought about certain events as of late.

The young Black heir was a piece he hadn't planned for, though the boy seemed to be nothing like some of the past members of his family, he seemed just like any orphan boy his age. But at the same time, Dumbledore didn't like it when pieces came out of the blue like this, but nevertheless, he would press on with his plans. He would just have to remain cautious, while the boy hadn't been placed in the snake den like so many of his house before him, a Ravenclaw placement was still troublesome, those of that house had often proven to be difficult for the headmaster to read and the Black heir would prove to be no exception, especially with Andromeda Tonks watching the boys back.

Albus couldn't help but scowl slightly as he cursed the meddlesome woman, she never trusted him even when she was a student at Hogwarts, it was so unfortunate that the woman had managed to gain guardianship of the boy before Albus had found out about his heritage, the Black fortune and the Black votes would have made a large difference to Albus's reach in the magical world, it would mean that the dark would have had even less influence in future Wizengamot sessions with the Black votes now out of the Malfoys reach, but now that Andromeda had control over her families votes again Albus knew that would spell trouble, the woman would likely just vote in opposition of whatever his own party voted for which was going to spell trouble for any future legislation he might wish to try and pass through others.

Alas there was nothing he could do about that matter for the time being, Andromeda had proven in the past that she was capable of looking out for a child, her daughter Nymphadora was testament to that a trainee Aurora and if what his old friend Moody told him, a promising one at that, if a little young. So there would be no way that he would be able to call her guardianship of the boy into question, even if he had, the boy seemed to like the woman and if Albus tried to remove her influence the boy might turn against him for it, taking away his new found family… no, for the time being, he wouldn't pursue the matter and just watch, for now, he needed more information before he could decide what he needed to do.

At least the boy was proving to be somewhat interesting, and nothing like his ancestors, proving so by actually apologizing for the actions of his uncle to young Harry in the events that lead up to the deaths of his parents, Albus hadn't been there but Minerva had been and reported the events to him soon after sounding rather impressed with the young black heir and Albus had to admit that it did show great strength of character to do such, even though he knew the truth that the gesture was empty as Sirius had next to nothing to do with the death of the Potters, but nevertheless it showed Albus that the boy clearly wasn't like the rest of his family, perhaps there would prove to be an opportunity to bring the boy into the light side, in an effort to redeem his families past transgressions.

A small smile graced the old man's lips as things began to fall into place, yes he could use this to his advantage, the light would need all the allies that he would be able to get when Voldemort returned, but for now his plan was running smoothly, the traps would be complete by Christmas and the stone would be placed there soon after, for now all that was left to do was wait until things began to fall into place as they always did, all according to his plans.

Leaning forward in his chair Albus opened the top drawer of his desk and reached inside taking out the ruby red stone as he sat back in his chair and gazed at it, the twinkle returning back to his eye slightly as he looked at it with a small amount of satisfaction, oh how he wished that he had attained the stone years ago, but his old friend and mentor refused to part with it and refused completely to share his notes on its creation, and as much as he had tried in the past Albus was unable to replicate the stone even in the slightest it was most vexing.

But now that he had it in his possession at long last he could finally study it and learn its secrets to create one for himself. He had until Christmas to do so, but if for some reason he should fail too, Albus already had a back up plan in mind, he would simply tell his old friend that the stone was sadly destroyed when the dark lord tried to steal it and simply keep it for himself and wait until time caught up with his old friend before taking the elixir and returning his own youth.

For sure the "destruction" of the stone would lose him Nicholas's friendship but it was a small sacrifice for a much greater gain, the old man had been living far too long, and it was time for him to move on, the man never followed his advice like the rest of the masses so it would prove to be the removal of a thorn long in his side.

With a final longing glance at the stone, Albus placed it back in the top drawer of his desk before closing it, and there it would stay until the traps were complete. As much as he wanted to keep it longer and not have it leave his office at all, Albus couldn't take the chance of placing a fake stone in its place, Voldemort would know immediately if he did so and he couldn't take the risk of him fleeing before his confrontation with young Harry, he needed to test his pawn to make sure that he would do what was needed, alas this was the only way, it was for the greater good.

Ministry of Magic- Archives

Edward "Ted" Tonks, always prided himself on his patience and the control he exerted over his temper, both had served him well in his time as an aurora whether it was waiting long hours on a stakeout to catch an illegal potions sale or restraining himself from cursing some bastard who rightly deserved it, but at this moment both of those traits were reaching their limits.

Ever since he had taken up this task of searching for the files about Sirius's trial, doing so subtly, he had encountered problem after problem, he had never encountered so much red tape before in his life when he was just trying to obtain one blasted file, but every time he went looking he hit another wall and it was starting to grate on his last nerves, he wanted to hex that snobby little git at the reception desk who was no help at all, it was his job to go in search of the files that he needed but clearly he had no intention of doing so, and after three weeks of sending off requests for the files, indirectly so as not to arouse attention, he had finally had enough and came down to the archives to get them himself.

That was what was grating on his nerves at this very moment, he had never seen a place in such disarray, there was no order to things whatsoever and as the archives was a magic-free area he couldn't just use magic to summon the file to him, oh no, he had to go through everything by hand, which is what he had been doing for the past week, and why he was halfway ready to just cast a bombarda at the next person to piss him off when he finally found what he was looking for.

The case box labelled with Sirius's name, looking over the dates on the box everything lined up and Ted reached up to take the box down and finally get a read at the court transcripts and review the evidence that had been presented at his court hearing but the second he lifted the box a look of concern crossed his face, the boy was way too light, normally that wouldn't have been anything of concern, most of the boxes we enchanted to be featherweight and with undetectable expansion charms on them to store all the evidence involved in a case, but Ted knew from what he had heard about Sirius's arrest that he had been arrested at the scene of Peter Pettigrew's murder, there would have been no real major evidence that would have required the use of the charm on the box.

Bringing it down quickly Ted took off the lid and his eyes went wide at what was inside, a single folder, that was it, nothing else, no evidence, no trial transcripts nothing, and the file looked to be paper thin maybe only two or three sheets, this was not all that should have been in here for a case this big.

Taking the folder out and letting the box drop Ted quickly opened it and began to read through its contents, it was the arrest report on Sirius for that night… and that was it, it only confirmed what he already knew from word of mouth that Sirius had been arrested minutes after following the murder of Peter Pettigrew, and that was it, nothing else, no witness reports, no interview transcripts from when he was in custody, not even a signed confession.

This confirmed Teds worst fear, Sirius Black, the suspected traitor to the Potters and the murderer of Peter Pettigrew, had been sent to Azkaban and had been there for ten years, without ever having received a trail.