21

It was a fairly well lit room, considering that it was designed by magicals. They tended to enjoy their dramatic ambience a little too much. This room was designed in a form of a circle with benches around the outside in ascending levels from the middle outwards. Seated on these benches were various men in fancy robes of many ages. Embedded into a section of the benches was a form of judges seat, there sat Albus Dumbledore, Cornelius Fudge and a court scribe.

Albus sat and surveyed his domain. It was not long since his domain included Hogwarts, he very much enjoyed sitting with the teachers and watching the children talk and enjoy themselves. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of his life, being a teacher. But he had been thrown out of Hogwarts because some people simply couldn't accept that he was working for the Greater Good. That he was working to ensure that their grandchildren and great-grandchildren would be able to live in peace and harmony.

Now he was reduced to watching and mediating between sour old men. Albus had no real power as a voter in the Wizengamot. He was merely a figurehead. But Albus had learnt to sculpt his role into one that inspired the members of the Wizengamot to seek and heed his advice. He had the done the same in the ICW. He had had far more power as Headmaster of Hogwarts. There he could mould the future minds and talents of the wizarding world. Now he was banished from the ICW because of his so-called crimes against Black.

Today's meeting looked to be a major headache. Sirius Black was once again in attendance. It had taken a lot of political manoeuvring and in some cases, outright blackmail, to keep himself out of the Black Debacle. He had finally escaped the whole thing by claiming a combination of immunity as a sitting judge at the time, and by blaming the whole thing on the Minister at the time.

This meant that there would not be a female minister for centuries to come and that women in general would be placed under even worse scrutiny, but it was for the Greater Good that he be free and able to maintain his positions.

But it was the five individuals sat to his left that confused him. Xander Harris, Salazar Slytherin, Godric Gryffindor, Neville Longbottom and worst of all, Harry Potter. Perched on Harry's head was the Sorting Hat.

Albus banged his gavel to begin the proceedings.

"Before we begin gentlemen, I must enquire of Lord Black why he has allowed non-members into these chambers."

Sirius stood. "In short, I have not allowed 'non-members' into these chambers. Lord Longbottom is here in the seat of House Longbottom. Lord Slytherin is here in the seat of House Slytherin. Lord Harry Potter of Gryffindor is here in the seats of House Gryffindor and Potter and Lord Hogwarts is here in the seats of House Hogwarts, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw."

There was an instant cacophony of noise as various objections were shouted. Albus called out authoritatively. "SILENCE!"

It was a testament to the respect that the aged wizard commanded that they all sat down in silence immediately.

"Now then, as you have heard, there are many objections that cannot be simply ignored-"

"Actually they can so long as they are verified as the rightful holders of the seats they claim." Sirius interrupted. "Just as all the members present were forced to do when they claimed their seats. So long as they are found to be the rightful holders, there is nothing that any other member can object to."

"Harry and Neville are-"

"Lord Gryffindor and Lord Longbottom." Sirius corrected sternly. Sirius was one of the few people who could claim a Lordship, it gave him slightly more power and demanded much more respect. It as one of the reasons Albus had not freed Sirius despite his first hand knowledge of his innocence.

Albus sighed. "They are both far too young to claim their seats."

"There is no age limit. The Charter makes no claims to that fact, Albus." Sirius had a distinct dislike for Albus. Not for the pain he had caused him with Azkaban, but because of the pain he had caused Harry by placing him with the Dursleys.

"I, for one, challenge their claims." Lucius Malfoy declared snootily. "At the very least we know that the true Heir of Slytherin was He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. As he had no issue, the line of Slytherin lies dormant."

"Who?" Salazar asked.

"Tom Riddle, or Lord Voldemort as he prefers to be known." Xander scoffed loudly.

The chamber was filled with more shouts of surprise and anger. It was bad enough Xander had said the name, now he also seemed to have information regarding the true identity of the Dark Lord.

"Huh, guess they didn't know that." Xander smirked cheekily at Dumbledore who was desperately trying not to bang his ancient head on the equally ancient desk.

"You may discuss the particulars of this so called 'Dark Lord' another time, gentlemen. For now I can allay your fears and state unequivocally that I have never sired a child." Salazar declared with some heat.

"And just how do you intend to prove that?" Lucius scoffed.

"The same way you proved that you were the rightful heir to your family seat." Salazar said as though it were simple.

The already pale Malfoy nearly turned translucent.

Xander saw this and burst out into raucous laughter.

"What's so funny?" Harry asked.

It was Godric who answered with a small smile. "Judging by the look on young Lucius' face, I would say that he never proved his right to the Malfoy seat."

Seeing Lucius suddenly turn slightly green, Xander began to hyperventilate with laughter.

"Oh my!" Godric chuckled. "Could it be that there isn't an actual 'Malfoy' seat?"

"With the Wizengamot's permission, I would like to cast a calming charm on my dear brother." Sal requested.

"No…" Xander gasped. "I'll be fine… just too funny! Have to show Mom and Min."

"I must remind you that these sessions are closed to the public and considered private and confidential." Albus reprimanded.

"No they aren't. They are supposed to be open to the public as per royal order." Godric retorted firmly.

"That order was rescinded by this very council over a decade ago." Fudge declared.

"Then you are all guilty of treason. Only the King or Queen of the land may change the rules of the Wizengamot." Godric said simply.

"We are wizards!" Fudge said imperiously. "We do not bow to the whims of mere muggles!"

"Those rules were laid down by Arthur! He was a wizard." Salazar said angrily.

"Those rules where cast in magic by Arthur and Merlin. The Knights of the Round table added their own magic! I was worried that the descendants of the Knights had truly fallen far. But it appears that many of you may be laying false claims on non-existent relationships." Godric ranted.

"And just how would you know this?" Fudge demanded.

"You mean you can't actually figure that out yourselves?" Salazar asked mockingly. "We were there! Godric and I are Knights of the Round Table!

"King Arthur and Merlin were like brothers, Arthur was like an uncle to the four of us. Which makes sense as Merlin married our mother and adopted us along with her."

"How dare you make such appalling claims!" One old man demanded.

"I suppose you will tell us that Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were also Knights of the Round Table." Lucius scoffed.

"Well… yes, but we called them Ladies of the Round Table, along with our mother, Lady Hogwarts." Godric admitted.

"Why don't we just prove it, we can then get the rest of these old men to take the same test!" Salazar said, his temper was at boiling point.

"What test?" Fudge demanded exasperatedly. "The only requirement is to take an oath that you are the rightful heir to the seat you claim. If you lie, your magic is forfeit."

Salazar was about to start screaming when Sirius leaned over.

"It would be best to follow their rules for now. They would be quite happy to declare you frauds despite your oath just to make sure there isn't a test that might prove they don't have seats on the Wizengamot."

"But-"

"Look, whatever you know, is over 1000 years old. These fools have perverted it beyond recognition. You have no real power politically. They have all the power, they control the laws, even the ones regarding education." Sirius said pointedly.

"Maybe we should just do what we need to and leave, we can always come back and fight another day?" Harry asked.

"Agreed. We clearly need more information." Godric noted.

Salazar grunted in disgust but stood and raised his wand.

"I, Lord Salazar Slytherin, Knight of the Round Table, claim my seat on the Wizarding Council of… Great Britain." A beam of light shot of Salazar's wand and hit the crest above the podium where Dumbledore and Fudge sat.

A male voice was heard to declare: "Welcome Salazar Slytherin, your claim is acknowledged and upheld."

Godric had a wistful smile in his eyes.

Xander stood and made a similar declaration.

"I, Alexander Harris, Lord of Hogwarts, do claim my seats and those of Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff on the Wizarding Council of Great Britain."

Having no wand, Xander raised his hand and directed a beam of light at the crest.

"Welcome Alexander Harris, your claims are acknowledged and upheld."

Neville stood and took his oath.

"I, Neville Franklin Longbottom do claim my seat on the Wizarding Council of Great Britain."

"Welcome Neville Franklin Longbottom, your claim is acknowledged and upheld."

"I would ask for transfer of voting rights for my seat to be passed to Lord Hogwarts until further notice." Neville requested.

"Request approved. This transfer must be renewed at the commencement of each year or voting rights will revert to the heir." Came the voice.

Harry stood up nervously. "I, Harry James Potter do claim my seats on the Wizarding Council of Great Britain."

"Does Lord Gryffindor concur?" The voice asked.

"I do." Godric declared firmly.

"Welcome Harry James Potter, your claim is acknowledged and upheld."

"I would ask for transfer of voting rights for my seat be passed to Lord Sirius Black until further notice." Harry asked timidly.

"Request approved. This transfer must be renewed at the commencement of each year or voting rights will revert to the heir."

The chamber was filled with a tense silence. The old men were just staring at the new comers who had just claimed their seats.

"Well? Are we going to get on with it?" Salazar asked impatiently.

There was a few more moments of silence.

Albus eventually shook off part of his shock induced stupor. "What…. What just happened?"

"We claimed our seats, Lord Gryffindor and Lord Longbottom transferred their voting rights to Lord Hogwarts and Lord Black so they wouldn't have to miss a lot of school and attend all the meetings." Salazar explained with a heavy dose of irritation.

Xander was smirking again, trying to hold back his laugh. "None of you have ever done… or seen that done, have you?"

There was a lot of embarrassed shuffling and muttering. "It seems you were right Rick, none of these old geezers has rightfully and legally claimed an appropriate seat on the Council." Salazar scowled.

"Perhaps we should begin with the first item on the agenda." Albus began hastily.

What followed was perhaps the most boring four hours of Neville and Harry's lives. And Harry had spent most of his locked in a cupboard.

"They argued about the stupidest things!" Harry complained to Hermione as they sat in the courtyard. Percy had joined them as he had been considering a job in the Ministry.

"What sort of things?" He asked curiously.

"Standardization of the Thickness of Cauldron Bottoms." Neville quoted dryly.

"Surely that could be considered important in some circumstances." Percy reasoned.

"They argued over it for forty-five minutes!" Harry squawked. "Neville suggested they create a list of thicknesses for a variety of cauldrons for various uses."

"That… sounds… reasonable." Hermione said unsurely.

Percy nodded. "Very, a logical solution."

"They laughed at him!" Harry said angrily. "They didn't even listen, they just laughed and mocked. Xander got very angry."

"Did you convince them in the end?" Percy asked.

Both Harry and Neville gave a bitter snort of laughter. "They agreed to form a committee to determine the validity of the report that they were currently debating… which was compiled by a previous committee appointed the month before by the same Wizengamot."

"Did they discuss anything important?" Hermione asked desperately. She seriously hoped that it wasn't as bad as it sounded. It didn't bode well for the Wizarding world otherwise.

"Quidditch World Cup is being held here over the summer." Neville shrugged.

"Yes, it's been planned for the past two years. The first time since the… since the night you saved us Harry." Percy said with a sad smile. Xander had insisted that they treat that night as a celebration, Sirius agreed. James and Lilly would not want their son moping around after so long. So now it was the day that James, Lilly and Harry Potter saved the world.

"Yeah, some of them wanted to add restrictions and registration requirements for people like werewolves, leprechauns and something called Veela."

"That's terrible!" Hermione exclaimed scandalously.

"Don't worry, Xander got them to back off by demanding that every wand be publicly registered and require a license to use." Harry grinned. "They didn't seem to like that idea, so they shut up pretty quick."

Percy excused himself from the others and went in search of Xander. It was the end of the day and dinner was in a few hours, but Percy needed to ask some questions.

He managed to locate him in the DADA classroom chatting with Moody.

"Professor Harris, do you have a few moments so I could discuss some things with you?" Percy asked politely.

Xander and Moody shared a quiet grin.

"Feel free to use my office lads." Moody offered with a smirk. "I should really head up to the Great Hall if I intend to make it before they begin serving." He remarked as he hobbled out.

"Perc', take a load off and tell me your woes." Xander said indicating a desk in front of him.

Percy strode determinedly over and sat smoothly in the chair, Xander was perched on the desk in front of him with his feet on the chair.

"I graduate in a few weeks." Percy said with a thoughtful frown, as though carefully choosing his words. "I had thought to pursue a career at the Ministry, but having heard from my father and now Harry and Neville, it seems like a very… unhelpful place to be."

Xander studied Percy for a few moments. The young man was studious, fairly stuffy… but not too stuffy that it prevented him from having a lovely girlfriend. Sometimes he was too caught up in the rules to make compromises, but he knew the difference between a good rule and a bad rule… even if he still felt compelled to follow the bad rules simply because they were… rules.

"What is it you want to do in life?" Xander asked him.

Percy sighed and drooped in his chair. "I honestly don't know. I'm not athletic, intellectually gifted, courageous, outgoing… I enjoy working hard and being organized."

It was the 'courageous' word that caught Xander's attention. "Do you remember the first few days after I arrived? We were at the Gryffindor table discussing the various houses you would be more likely suited to?"

Percy nodded curiously as he straightened and paid attention.

"The reason we didn't re-sort everyone, is because Godric explained his reasons for where he placed people. It's all about potential. You, specifically, have the potential to be very courageous.

"Maybe you should think about pushing that possible aspect of your potential?"

"An Auror?" Percy asked in mild surprise.

"Why not?" Xander challenged. "You could handle the paper work and procedure in your sleep. You would just need to get used to the physical side of things.

"There are other options… working with Charlie and his dragons, curse breaking for the goblins, diplomat to some of the more dangerous creatures and beings like giants."

"Perhaps…" Percy straightened himself up, gearing to make a bold suggestion. "Perhaps you could implement the work experience program for sixth years that Dan and Emma Granger told me about."

"Oh?"

"When students are considering their options for a career in the mugg- non-magical world, they spend a few weeks working as assistants or observing people in the profession they currently seek to pursue."

"Huh, like interns." Xander mused.

"Similar, I assume, to when you allowed me to assist Aurors Tonks and Shacklebot in cataloguing your acquisitions at Borgin and Burke's."

Percy was soon assigned a part time job for the year following his NEWT exams to begin implementing the Work Experience program that was prevalent in the non-magical schools. Xander made it clear that it was his idea and he should get to initiate it. After successful completion of a single year, Percy would have been able to get a glimpse of many career possibilities and have an idea of what he wanted to do whilst helping those in the year below him find their own path.

Xander, Sal and Godric still patrolled the Forbidden Forest to clear up any other dark creatures. Harry, Neville and Hermione were part of the patrols to help with exercise and training. They had also taken to swimming in the lake. Harry had needed special lessons as no one had taught him how to swim. Through use of Gillyweed, suggested by Sal, they also visited the Mer-People village. Sal was the one involved with the Mer-People when Hogwarts was built, he had learnt their language and taught them his. Due to his thousand year absence, he had to start anew, this gave him the opportunity to teach Xander, Harry, Neville and Hermione. Luna and Ginny occasionally participated in these events.

The final few months of school passed in relative peace for Harry and his friends. He missed Hermione a lot as she was often ensconced in the library or her room studying on the subjects she wasn't taking OWLs for. She promised not to study over the holidays, much Harry's delight.

Sirius and Xander stayed abreast of the Wizengamot meetings with Sal. Godric would often accompany them, his hat sitting atop the heads of one of his brothers.

Xander had been wary about Dumbledore's possible actions and motives in his role as Chief Warlock, he thought he might use the position to hurt Harry or the school. Instead, Xander was pleasantly surprised to find him pushing for better treatment of so-called 'dark creatures' like werewolves. Albus lobbied for the Ministry to open relations with the giants.

The only thing that worried Xander, was the Tri-Wizard Tournament that Albus wanted to resurrect. It had a history of getting people hurt.

"It's a wonderful event!" Joyce gushed. "I started it with Hogwarts, we didn't call it the Tri-Wizard Tournament though." She frowned.

"Oh?" Xander queried.

"Mother called it the 'Wizarding Olympics'." Godric chuckled.

Xander just rolled his eyes. "And they said my sense of humour was lacking."

"I always enjoyed the Olympics and there weren't many sports at the time except duelling. I got together with Merlin and the kids and we put the plans together, then we approached Arthur and asked him to approach the other schools for us."

"What sort of… events, were there?" Xander asked.

"It was hard to come up with the magical equivalent of running and jumping. We developed scenarios for competitors to solve and compete in. Marks were awarded for methods, speed and success.

"One year we had the competitors attempt to escape from a dungeon. They had to avoid trolls and traps and a dragon. We-"

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa!" Xander butted in. "You made Dungeons and Dragons?" He asked in awe.

"It's not as if they knew what it was!" Joyce half whined in defence.

"You don't think that you might be the inspiration for it?" Xander retorted with a snort.

Joyce just grinned impishly. "Anyway, that was the sort of thing we had them do. Whoever got out the quickest got the highest marks for that. Whoever got out without being detected would get high marks."

"It seems a bit like overkill to use a real dragon." Xander said doubtfully.

Sal just snorted. "Why? I was there, I simply explained the situation to the dragon and they were often happy enough to play along. Sometimes I played the dragon myself!"

"And the deaths that occurred?"

"Likely the organizers didn't take the appropriate precautions or didn't give the competitors the correct warnings. There were no deaths when we held the Wizarding Olympics." Sal said, slightly defensively.

With that, Xander placed Sal in charge of the Tournament. Xander would merely attend to his regular duties as co-headmaster and Head of Security. He envisioned having to use both Goblins and Werewolves.

School ended peacefully. Hermione managed to gain top marks on all her exams, but most importantly she determined that she didn't need or want to take all the subjects for her OWLs, Divination was dropped like a hot potato. She was happy not to have to cast cleaning charms on her clothes after each lesson to get the smell of incense out.

Luna and Ginny were quite happy with the standard number of subjects and vowed to never follow Hermione's obsessive examples.

Harry and Neville were just happy to have passed. They had studied hard but never really enjoyed the theory as it was often hard for them to grasp. They were both practical people and were excelling in common sense thanks to Xander. But they did enjoy reading about subjects they were interested in such as Harry and the Fidelius and Neville and his plants.

Xander had a busy holiday coming up. He had to stay at Hogwarts for meetings about the upcoming tournament. It was being held at Hogwarts thanks to the Ministry, and Joyce and his brothers were all for it. Xander intended to spend all the time that was necessary to make sure the event was safe and secure.